******* If you have another minute to spare ******* The most effective way of showing your support is to copy and paste the text below and email it to the City Council: email: [email protected] subject: Restore Salthill Tidal Pools ********************************************** Sea swimming is at an all-time high in Galway and across all of Ireland, and people are making the most out of the outdoors now more than ever. The tidal pools in Salthill have been left unused for several decades. They were once full of life, being enjoyed by Galwegians of all ages for swimming. We think they should be reopened so they can be enjoyed by the community once again. Tidal pools allow members of the public to swim in a protected area, whilst being right by the sea. We believe now is the perfect time for Salthill to reopen the tidal pools. Serving the Entire Community Tidal pools are safe, durable, inexpensive, and serve a large part of the local community including: -Recreational swimmers, including winter swimmers -Children learning to swim -Weak or nervous adult swimmers -Differently-abled swimmers -Swimming, Water Polo and Triathlon club training -Lifeguard and water safety training -GAA, Soccer and Rugby post-training recovery The tidal pools would in particular be a fantastic resource for those with disabilities, who are not currently able to swim in the sea. It would also cater to less confident swimmers who are looking for a safe, sheltered area in which to swim. Parents could bring their children to the pools for lessons and to imbue the love of swimming in the next generation, in the knowledge that they are in a safe area. There are tidal pools in seaside towns all over the world, it is quite normal to have them. And the Salthill Pools already exist - we just need to refurbish and reopen them. This petition will support our application to Galway City Council under the Galway City Development Plan 2023-2029 to reopen the pools. We really appreciate every signature. Let's hope we'll be swimming in the tidal pools in the future. Morgan, Ronan, Stephen [email protected] Visual credit: visuallab.ie

No one should be excluded from access to a life-saving Vaccine. However, unless we act now, a safe and effective vaccine for Covid-19 won't reach billions of vulnerable people across the world until its too late.

The people of Ireland have been asked not to travel outside of the country and to restrict their movements to help reduce the risk of transmission of Covid 19. All of the people are being asked to make sacrifices and out of respect for those who have lost their lives, their job and those working on the front line, it is vital that the Taoiseach of Ireland also abides by the rules and therefore does not travel to Washington DC for St Patrick's Day. People are asked to conduct their business through Zoom and other online applications, this should be sufficent on this occasion.

At the start of the pandemic, student nurses were being paid to staff wards and make up the staffing shortfall in the NHS. Since September these payments stopped, despite the current wave of Covid19 putting Northern Ireland's hospitals under pressure like never before. Students Nurses work 37.5hrs per week on clinical placement at the rate of £2.86 per hour under the current bursary of £430 per month. This does not meet basic cost of living standards. Paid less than the national minimum wage. Northern Ireland bursary has not been increased whereas Scotland's bursary is increased year to year. The majority of students still have to work part time on top of placement to be able to live month to month. Due to covid placement areas students are restricted to where they can work if at all Students are working in Covid wards and are at the same risk of as a paid member of staff. Students do not receive sick pay. Many students have incurred costs from covid-19 pandemic from moving out of home due to vulnerable family members at risk. No support available. These student nurses are the future of our NHS. They deserve to be paid for the risks they are taking at the frontline of this pandemic.

The Thirty-Seventh Amendment Of The Constitution (Economic, Social And Cultural Rights) Bill 2018 would call for a referendum to have these human rights enshrined in our Constitution. They would encompass a right to adequate housing, a right to join a trade union of your choice, a right to physical and mental health and a right to enjoy scientific progress. All of which have become more important during this global pandemic.

If the Irish Government does not implement mandatory hotel quarantine: - there will be more needless suffering and lives lost - more and more variants will spread in the community, and the vaccines we have now may not be effective against these new variants - all of our sacrifices to bring numbers down will be undermined.

We need the nurses and the nurses need to be valued.

Dear, As you are aware of the prevailing situation already through this hashtag #fastTrackCitizenship , tweets, and from recent articles published in IrishTimes and Medical independent but I’ll give you a quick review of the current situation. The campaign- I am leading- is for all the immigrant healthcare workers including porters, nurses, HCAs and doctors. The purpose of the aforementioned campaign is to request the DOJ to expedite the naturalisation process for these HCWs. As you’re already aware that more than 5000 people are currently waiting for naturalisation for more than 2 years, and nearly 2300 are waiting for more than 3 years, we are afraid that with covid restrictions, things will get even worse. There will be another 1000 people who’d be applying after this lockdown and just imagine the delay which will be going to happen. I can’t hopefully believe that this is all because of covid crisis. If you check the number of people who are currently waiting, you will see that this was happening even before the current crisis but yes, things have definitely become worse as of now. During this depressing time, people have been waiting for a very long time for a little happiness and I think this (#fastTrackCitizenship) will give them a great confidence-boost and resultantly will increase their morale. They’ll be motivated instead of being anxious of their future, and will be satisfyingly happy not to go for stamps/visa and paying fees every 6 months. I wish I could do something as good to make my Irish and other EU colleagues happy and I wish, in this pandemic, I can give them something to cheer about but except from giving them my moral support, I’m not being able to do anything substantive for them. Immigrants are already being warmly welcomed by Irish people, and now the government also needs to take the initiative to do the same for these hard working, committed doctors who work here to make this country prosperous and happy. Like other natural-born citizens, they belong here, and we all belong to Ireland. Many thanks Mohsin

This is critically important because we are expected to go back to school with little to no PPE and the PPE we've had to date is substandard. This is the eye of the storm where this pandemic is and is extremely dangerous to be mixing with anyone outside of our homes let alone mixing with as many households we will be mixing with in school

The victims need access to the report in physical form for various reason including age and access to a computer. This should have been considered long before this as the victims now have to listen to all manner of commentators discuss their experiences without having access to the report.

At the moment we are set to have vaccinated 135,000 people by the end of February 2021. This is simply not enough. If we want to beat this disease and get back to somewhat normality we need to rapidly increase the amount of the vaccine being administrated and to change the way that we are doing so. We need around the clock 24hr administration of the vaccine. We need to train up and utilise all of the volunteers that we can to roll-out this vaccine to everyone possible. We need to have an online system of registration including a list for cancellations to ensure that every single dose is used. We need to aggressively tackle this disease and get a better plan than the one that we have. Take a look at Israel, they have vaccinated 1.37million of their people. We need to make sure that we give everyone the opportunity to receive the vaccine should they want to in the quickest possible time. We also need to look at the priority group system and roll-out quicker to our most needed services

The HSE and SH:24 partnered to offer free STI home test kits as part of a pilot project, to find out how online services can help support people’s sexual health. These at-home STI tests were LGBT+ inclusive and were first made available to order online for residents of County Dublin, Cork and Kerry, however, as of January 6th - less than one day after the pilot launched, the service was shut due to the unprecedented high demand. The high number of sign-ups clearly illustrates the strong support for continuing and expanding this service nationwide. This scheme is particularly necessary at present as STI clinics are closed due to COVID-19, risking long waiting lists upon re-opening, and worsened health outcomes for those who could not access testing and treatment. At-home STI tests shift those with less complex sexual health needs from clinics to an online service thus reducing clinic waiting times, is safer during COVID-19, removes transportation barriers and encourages more people to get tested due to easier access. Free STI tests removes the financial barriers to testing services. Sign the petition to show your support for continuing & expanding this scheme!