Like many areas across Dublin South West, Firhouse is without a single playspace or playground. We now have five primary schools in the general area and it is simply unacceptable that families have to get in their car to travel to the nearest amenity. The Scientology Centre in Firhouse has applied for planning permission to put in a playground on their grounds. This should not be left up to private businesses to offer what is essentially a public good. We ask South Dublin County Council to ensure that such amenities for young children and their families are provided for in the local area and accessible in public spaces only.

Despite little information being given to the public throughout the rezoning and planning permission process, the public - which includes those living directly within the vicinity of the site as well as residents within town - have expressed both formally (through submissions) and informally (through public meetings) a number of concerns and objections to the factory. These concerns have been largely left unaddressed and it is for this reason that we demand the halting of the factory's development and the appeal of planning permission for the project. We are concerned about the overall lack of accessible information given to us surrounding the project. Land was rezoned in Poundlick, Skibbereen in April 2016 from "Town Greenbelt" to "Business Use," in order to allow the factory to be built. The rezoning occurred following an inadequate public consultation process, which consisted of one advertisement on p. 33 of the Irish Examiner print edition on February 10, 2016. While this one ad formally commenced the public consultation process, this does not constitute as clear, adequate, or accessible notification. Given that not a single submission was made by a resident of Skibbereen in response to the land rezoning, it is evident that the residents of Skibbereen did not access this information, which is understandable given its singular and obscure location. We should also be able to rely on our elected representatives to communicate such vital information to us in a widely accessible manner. Similarly, those living in the vicinity of the site were only informed that planning permission was sought after PLANNING notices went up at access points to the site. Again, this is an inadequate format for disseminating information, which has severely stunted the public consultation and engagement process on this matter, and means that our informed consent cannot be given. In addition to the poor process of public consultation and notification, our concerns circulate around our health; the environment (no Environmental Impact Assessment has been undertaken and nor has the County Council requested this!); our property value; the traffic that will result; the amount of topsoil that will be removed; the rezoning of land for industry amidst a housing shortage; the lack of consultation with a retirement home in the vicinity. A plastics factory was sued in Athlone in 2005 following a number of health hazards it created within the community, and should such a case be necessary in Skibbereen, this will come at great financial and time cost to our town's residents.]

Eirgrid has an important job to ensure our energy needs are met. However this can not be at any cost. The only issue of placing lines underground for Eirgrid is an increase in cost. Surely protecting our beautiful country is worth the increase in cost. It is also important to protect important landmarks, such as the Hill of Tara, which is seeking UNESCO status. It is time to start looking to the future and build the Interconnector and other national projects underground where they will be safe from storms, and keep our country beautiful for the next generations (and tourists).

Tell the Councillors that the Sean McDermott Street Magdalene site must be preserved as a national centre for commemoration and education. The institutional and clerical abuses that have caused pain and destruction to so many people and families in Ireland must be acknowledged. We must never forget, and we must never allow them to happen again. This is the new Ireland. We can and must remember. We must honour survivors when they say: "I’d like them to acknowledge what has happened and accept what has happened - instead of saying, ‘oh yes I’m sorry,’ but no meaning behind it - and make sure it never ever, ever happens again." (Link to http://jfmresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/JFMR-report-to-CAT-for-the-session-2017-Main-Report.pdf ) We must respect the survivors who tell us: "I just would like it to be known. I would like it to go into the history books and I would like...do you know, the younger generation of today including my own grandchildren to know that that’s the way it was long ago. It wasn’t the perpetrator that went in, that got into trouble, it was the victim. You know, you’d have had to have been a girl, like, for that to happen." (Link to http://jfmresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/JFMR-report-to-CAT-for-the-session-2017-Main-Report.pdf ) We must hold the Taoiseach to what he told the Pope last weekend, and demand action, not just brave words. As Leo Varadkar said on Saturday: "the failures of both Church and State and wider society created a bitter and broken heritage for so many, leaving a legacy of pain and suffering. ...It is a history of sorrow and shame. ...Wounds are still open and there is much to be done to bring about justice and truth and healing for victims and survivors." DCC Councillors will shortly vote on the following motion: “Following the repeated recommendations of the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) that the Irish State should undertake a thorough and impartial investigation into ill-treatment of girls and women at the Magdalene Laundries, promote greater access to archival information regarding the Magdalene Laundries and fully implement the outstanding recommendations of Mr Justice Quirke, including services for survivors and memorialisation, the elected members of Dublin City Council (DCC) consider it entirely inappropriate that DCC is currently offering the Magdalene Laundry site at Sean McDermott Street for sale to private developers. The elected members of DCC are also concerned that, despite it being the first recommendation of Mr Justice Ryan's Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, a memorial to those abused in residential schools has never been created. We hereby request a halt to the sale of the Magdalene Laundry site at Sean McDermott Street. We welcome the creation of the Lord Mayor's Commission and look forward to receiving its recommendations regarding the appropriate use of the site.”

The planning committee have a duty to represent ratepayers and seek to establish if these are unlawful decisions. These decisions may be unlawful if there has been no study of the combined health impacts on the people living in the area. Downwind, and in the six miles between these two developments, lie the homes of tens of thousands of people, as well as recreational water bodies, holiday sites and the shores of Belfast Lough. The human cost of poor air quality is huge causing the deaths of more people per year, in Northern Ireland, than passive smoking or road accidents combined and costing the NHS over £20 billion per year. (1) At a time when the World Health Organisation are saying that the greater Belfast area air already exceeds safe levels by 20% we deserve a cumulative health impact study before any further work proceeds. (2) Read more on FB @Stop the Newtownabbey Pig Factory & Stop Hightown Waste Incinerator 1. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/belfast-air-pollution-levels-among-the-worst-in-uk-35636923.html 2. http://breathelife2030.org/ 3 https://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2017/11/13/air-quality-breaches-stops-development-which-threatened-to-exacerbate-them/

Anong many reasons why the residents object are: - The present traffic problem is not due to the roundabout itself, but the backed-up traffic towards town on the Headford Road. - Redesigning the junction does not address this issue at all - €1.2million will be spent - Additional lanes added to four arms of the junction, yet the capacity increase wil be only 15% - Public (and private) green space will be taken - Mature trees felled - Compulsory Purchase will take years to complete - Commercial interests in the area damaged - All local residents will be hugely inconvenienced and in the case of those in the immediate vicinity totally isolated - There will be nine sets of lights in the short stretch from Ballinfoile church to the Courthouse.

The current National Youth StrAtegy 'Brighter Futures -Better Outcomes' does not include any intercultural focus. This therefore neglects hundreds of youth in Ireland. Groups affected Intercultural youth groups, international students, migrant youth, children born from migrant parents, mixed ethnicity youth, ethnic minorities excluding Traveller &Roma communities.

Dr. Lynn was an incredible woman, revolutionary and role model. She did so much to improve the lives of children in Ireland and she deserves to be recognised. Nothing would be more fitting than a Children's Hospital named in her honour.

The Iveagh Gardens are under threat – again. Having let the last permission (2016) run out the OPW have once more applied for planning permission for their development in the Iveagh Gardens. This new proposal is exactly the same as the last one but this time there is some more protection for some of the trees. The basic premise of the proposal is to 'reimagine' the gardens back to how they were in 1865 by re-connecting the Iveagh Gardens with the NCH. In other words demolishing part of the wall, creating 'universal access' and an urban realm 'animated by diners..' In order to impose their 're-invigoration of the Gardens' the OPW fails appreciate that they will be erasing a piece of extant heritage and destroying the character of a cherished city gem. The plan ignores the fact that the Iveagh Gardens are catering to a vital need as a peaceful place of recreation in an urban landscape that offers very few opportunities for city dwellers to connect with nature The proposal is out of date and the OPW need to go back to the drawing board. The proposal consistently refers to the Dublin City Development plan of 2016- 2022 and ignores the aims and objectives of the Dublin City Development plan 2022-2028 and the EU biodiversity strategy 2030 which ' calls on all cities in the EU to protect and promote biodiversity'. Biodiversity is one of the key objectives in the new DCC plan but this proposal, staggeringly, does not mention biodiversity once. There is a wholly inadequate mention of bat protection during the 'site clearance' but zero recognition of the effect the site clearance will have on the bat and bird population. In the midst of a biodiversity crisis this is completely unacceptable. We say leave the Iveagh Gardens intact. Protect biodiversity. Protect our heritage. Respect people's need for peaceful green spaces. Save the Iveagh Gardens! Let's get this petition moving again!

Road Safety Traffic Flow Detrimental Effect on Local Businesses Overall Look to Local Village

We seem to be allowing a continuous stripping of services from rural Ireland, this would be a start of a serious opportunity to reverse this trend and offer a genuine service to elderly people who want to remain in their homes. We could customise these hubs to suit each village or location, eg combine this service with the local community centre, a cafe a local business or a stand alone unit. This hub could be staffed by locals and would offer all the services of a post office, plus access for the elderly to a government services help desk, environmental help, grants, tourist info etc, it could also be a start of decentralisation from Dublin.

To show the world that Belfast cares for the people who have put Belfast on top of the world stage in music.