You, the Department of Education have a duty of care for the safety & protection of our children & school staff. Parents and school staff were promised “protection measures” yet none are in place. Now at level 5, there are still no safety measures and schools are reporting that when a positive case is in a classroom, they are unable to get hold of HSE and have no guidance only to get on with it and continue with positive cases within the class. NOT ACCEPTABLE.

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 1 billion cases and millions of deaths each year can be traced back to diseases originating from animal populations. In the past three decades, researchers have found more than 30 bacteria or viruses that are capable of infecting humans. Over three quarters of those are believed to have come from animal populations. And while the current pandemic may feel like a very rare happening, scientists say the pace of these pandemics is accelerating dramatically thanks to humans' ever-encroaching proximity to wildlife. "The time between these outbreaks is getting shorter and shorter," said Dr. Tracey McNamara, a professor of pathology at Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine. And it's becoming increasingly clear that these viruses aren't just a threat to our health -- they're also a threat to the global economy. "We are only able to sustain an outbreak maybe once every decade," said Dr. Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance. "The rate we are going is not sustainable." As our population continues to expand, the interactions between humans and wildlife grow closer and closer. Cutting down forests and altering habitats push animals out of their own homes and deeper into human communities. Poorly developed hygiene and sanitation systems can make it more likely for germs to build up. With humans and animals living in such close proximity, bacteria and viruses can easily jump from one species to another. Once people become infected, the increasing interconnectedness of our world makes the spread of the disease easier. People and domestic animals are able to traverse the globe in a matter of hours. Illegal trade of exotic animals can move across borders undetected, carrying with them deadly bacteria and viruses.

Keep our kids safe, keep ourselves safe so we can keep our Ireland safe!!!

The Covid crisis has shown how weak protections are for all workers in this country. The scandal in the meat plants is just one blatant example. Failure to act now and give these workers greater protections and workplace rights will mean huge health risks for all workers and communities affected in the future

On foot of huge sacrifices made these last 3 months by persons of all ages and circumstances, it would be criminally irresponsible to allow the thirst for tourism income and personal holiday travel to issue in a second wave.

To preserve the gains and prevent a second wave.

The Pandemic Universal Payment of €350 per week for all those who lost their income as a result of the Covid19 crisis was a welcome move by the caretaker government and an admission that the current social welfare rates and their previously proposed €203 payment were wholly inadequate. Currently the payment is set to run until 19 June. The payment needs to stay in place until the end of the current health emergency and until the full recovery of employment lost as a result of the pandemic. Any attempt to "taper off" the payment, as recently suggested by Minister Paschal Donohoe, may result in people being pushed back into a workplace before it is safe and financially punish them for a loss of income that was completely out of their control. The current payment does not cover all those who lost income as a result of the crisis. Many of those who work in the gig economy or in precarious employment were deemed ineligible because they were not working on or after 6 March. Both Over 66s and Under 18s who were working prior to the crisis were also deemed ineligible. The payment should be expanded to include these workers. The rate of €350 is an unofficial admission by the caretaker government that the current social welfare rates are wholly inadequate and rates for all social welfare payments including those on state pensions, disability and job seeker payments should now be increased to €350 per week. These measures should be taken as a first step towards creating a Universal Basic Minimum Payment to eradicate poverty in Irish society.

It's been a tragedy. Last week, those who called for a postponement of operations that could be planned and for the freeing up of hospital capacities were branded as fear-mongers. "Ireland is different!" Or "don't panic!" Were messages that we received. In the meantime, you seem to have understood, Mr Harris, that Ireland can quickly become Italy and it will have been foreseeable. Intensive care units, protective clothing and nursing staff were lacking in Italy, it’s the same for us. It doesn't make a difference, however, because even with existing beds and technology, who will care for patients in the intensive care units, who will operate the ventilators? Who will checks on them when they are in pain? Delayed action is of course very dangerous in a pandemic and costs lives! We hope that you have finally understood that nursing staff are the silver line between disaster and survival for our nation. We understand that you have started instructing hospital managers to involve pensioners and students in the process. First of all, it is not you who is solely responsible for this catastrophic situation, but also your predecessors. But nursing staff should have expected a little more substance in recent years than idle promises. One thing is becoming clearer than ever: you as minister for health have the task of ensuring that in a crisis situation nurses are safe and supported. Of course, we will not save the day now by continuing to work without proper recognition and a safe environment to work in. We call on you now to give very clear promises: nursing staff are a valuable asset that must now be protected and valued! It is a pity that this truth has not yet gotten through to everyone. Sometimes, sadly, it takes a crisis for the truth to be revealed. It seems that more than 20% of all infected cases are nursing staff. And you have left it up to individual hospitals to source protective gear. It may surprise you, but that's not how it works! This pandemic has been coming for weeks! It is also not the first globally spreading viral disease. As hard-working citizens we expected more preparation for this crisis. We call for Immediate organisation and supply of effective protective clothing taking into account all possibilities. In a state of emergency, you will promise to nationalise manufacturers of equipment and their suppliers to protect our nursing staff! Immediate suspension of all exams for care facilities in Ireland. Firstly, this is a possible source of infection, and secondly, everything must be avoided that, in this crisis situation, takes additional work time for the nursing staff, which is then missing in the care of the patients. Mobilisation of all nurses from these test authorities for use in practice. An immediate and reliable promise of a strong, state-funded wage supplement for everyone who can withstand this situation, who bring their children to emergency care groups, who work overtime, who cannot take breaks, who cannot comply with rest periods. An immediate commitment of significant wage increases for nurses, which must be at an entry-level salary of 4,000 euros. You can save the refinancing for the period after this crisis. We urge you! Without these measures, the ventilation machines will become redundant, because there will be no one left to operate them! Act now, Mr Harris, before it's too late.

A way of appreciating all the effort and hard work during Covid19

The Covid-19 epidemic has affected 100 countries worldwide, and has already killed several thousand people, and the WHO have stated the threat of a pandemic is very real. It is an unprecedented public health and economic event in the era of global travel and data sharing. Ireland is in a position of having the benefit of other countries' hindsight. We are in the early stages of an outbreak at under 100 cases (which is widely recognised as the tipping point between containment and mitigation). How we act now determines whether this outbreak spreads exponentially immediately and overwhelms our already problematic health service, or whether we manage to slow the rate of infection and spread out the impact on our health service over time, avoiding bottlenecks in patient care and resources that will prove more fatal than the illness itself, and avoiding widespread panic that can be more contagious than the virus. The WHO posits a possible doubling rate of 4 days, making it two weeks until the outbreak is too widespread to contain. It is stating the obvious to say that we cannot stop this infection from spreading. However we can slow it down and buy important time to make preparations, and eventually to develop a vaccination or sufficient herd immunity to protect the vulnerable (or in a more optimistic scenario to get to the end of the Flu season when it might abate). Comparing the outbreaks in different countries and rates of spread, together with their testing and containment measures, it is clear that countries like China, Singapore and South Korea that have managed to reduce infection rates through strong action on movement and aggressive testing protocol. It is widely recognised that in countries where containment failed, testing protocol was inadequate. It is now an acknowledged feature of Covid-19 that there are a large number of symptomless/mild symptom cases (estimated by the WHO to be up to 80%). This allows for subterranean community spreading under the radar in young healthy populations, which only becomes apparent when a spike in severe symptoms and pneumonia cases among the vulnerable appear. In Singapore broad testing criteria using a combination of PCR and antibody testing have enabled much more effective tracking of routes of infection and breaking of infection patterns. The HSE’s current testing criteria are when a person has symptoms of a fever, cough, shortness of breath/breathing difficulties AND the person has been to “an affected area” OR has been in contact with a confirmed case. https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus.html This is dangerously narrow now that we have at least six cases of community transmission in Ireland not linked to travel or confirmed cases Reasonable restrictions on large gatherings such as those implemented in France (over 1000 people), together with broadening of testing protocol to a much greater degree than being operated currently would go a long way to get a better picture of low symptom or asymptomatic cases. Testing should be made widely available, even to people with only mild symptoms. Also antibody testing should be carried out to reverse engineer routes of infection. Testing protocol should be expanded to include anyone with a fever OR with respiratory symptoms without a requirement for known contacts or travel to affected areas. This is more in line with the strategy recommended by the WHO in their WHO-China Joint Mission on Covid-19 on pg.19 where they emphasise the urgent need for non-pharmaceutical measures in the early stages of an outbreak of the virus: “Fundamental to these measures is extremely proactive surveillance to immediately detect cases, very rapid diagnosis and immediate case isolation, rigorous tracking and quarantine of close contacts, and an exceptionally high degree of population understanding and acceptance of these measures.” https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf We call on the Minister for Health Simon Harris to act now to minimise the immediate lethality of this outbreak and thereby mitigating also its economic impact in the long term in Ireland.

We cannot keep losing young men and women due to lack of support from our NHS. In the last 2 years four of my sons friends have opted to end their lives by suicide. I do not want my son to be the next loss. Please help.

It is the most important thing in life it would reduce all of the issues across the bored if we are are going to fight for mental health we should start with the younger generations we need to give them tools to help others and help themselves it is fundamental to have something in our shcools at a young age