Keep the Liffey Cycle Route on Dublin’s quays — say no to a backstreet detour, yes to a Dutch-style two-way cycle path reclaiming part of the quays and a new riverside park. Option 6 is workable and the best route for the city. Act now to save the route — sign the petition (coming soon), and email [email protected] and your local city councillors to make it clear you want the route to stay on the quays. After thousands of people supported the Liffey Cycle Route in a widely-publicised public consultation, Dublin City Council caved in to “severe” behind-closed-doors lobbying. Now the city council wants to detour the route away quays and onto back streets, removing a planned section with an iconic riverside park. There are pros and cons to all options, but a huge part of the importance of this project is to reclaim the a small part of riverside and provide a safe and attractive cycle route for the north and south quays. A detour into Smithfield will detract from the route and will not make many of the objectors happy. Keeping the route alongside the Liffey makes sense — it connects residents, commuters and tourists to the city centre’s main waterfront, is more attractive to users and it connects better to the southside, including Heuston station, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Guinness Storehouse, and hospitals and other large employers who are encouraging staff to cycle. Objections to keeping the route on the quays don’t make sense, read why here: http://irishcycle.com/quays/

Planning permission has been given to build Irelands tallest building and monster hotel on top of The Port Of Cork Buildings. They plan to build this skyscraper will cover up and destroy the Port buildings, which are the most historical, prominent, visually beautiful buildings in Cork City. The Port of Cork Buildings are listed buildings, they are supposed to be protected. They were constructed during the Napoleonic Wars by the prisoners of Spike Island more than 200 years ago. They are in such an important piece of strategic land in the centre of the city and on the historic waterfront. These are the first buildings we see when we arrive in Cork. They have the possibility to make this city very special. These are a unique set of buildings and part of our cultural and historical maritime heritage - of international interest. If this huge development goes ahead the character of Cork will be lost forever. Cork City Council has been allowing many historical buildings in Cork City to be demolished. Their idea of preserving buildings is to keep the front wall, (Some examples Navagation House and Camden Quay buildings demolished leaving only the front walls, the O Callaghan Properties development on Lavits Quay. Opera Lane didn’t even bother keeping the front and now Patrick’s Street has started losing its character and historic buildings).

Cycling already accounts for 27% of all traffic on Dame Street, making it the most popular cycling area in Dublin, in spite of the current hostile conditions. With an expanding population and national policy to increase the share of walking and cycling trips across the city to 25% in the coming years, this area needs to be equipped to handle a proportionate increase. We’re calling on the City Council to guarantee the delivery of a new College Green that meets the needs for current cycling and walking volumes and is future-proofed for projected demand. The area needs to deliver for all users of the space, no matter where they’re coming from or going to, whether they’re walking through or lingering; whether cycling with children or cycling to work. The needs of visually impaired people, deaf people, children and the elderly need to be catered for at the proposed plaza in particular. The tried and tested Dutch model for cycling, employing high quality segregated routes and widespread permeability, is the only proven way to realise truly inclusive levels of cycling. Cycle flows must have the same attention to detail as public transport to unlock the true potential of cycling in Dublin. We’re concerned that the latest drawings do not convey this. Specifically, we’re calling for: A detailed design that takes advantage of the principles of sustainable safety and does not use shared walking and cycling areas, in accordance with section 1.9.3 of the National Cycling Manual (NCM). We view this as central to the success or failure of the plaza; Use of self-enforcing separated cycle tracks which are well-defined visually and spatially, using angled kerbs, grade-separation and colouring to create new bike permeability for Trinity, Dame Street, Grafton Street Quarter, O’Connell Street and other destinations in the area; Use of bus stop bypasses at all stops on Dame Street and all other possible measures to separate busses and cycles in the area, including bidirectional paths in accordance with the NCM/Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets requirements. 660 Dubliners have already backed our calls for improved walking and cycling commitments in this year’s City Development Plan, joining almost 8000 overwhelmingly positive submissions on the 2015 Dublin City Centre Transport Study. The leading business groups have also backed the College Green proposals, which will make the city even more attractive to the world’s leading companies and their workers. The council has already shown what quality cycling routes can achieve in Dublin with the Grand Canal Cycleway. It’s now time to build on that success.

Johns Lane West and Brú Aimsir hostels give shelter to almost 150 people who are former rough sleepers in Dublin. They are both set to close in the coming weeks. This will result in the loss of 150 beds for those sleeping rough. Focus Ireland and Peter McVerry Trust who currently run the hostels have not revealed how they plan to accommodate these people who will be forced back onto the streets with the closure of these hostels. The residents have been told they must ring the freephone in Parkgate St to find alternative accommodation. With an already critical shortage of beds, this will only put added strain on a flawed system which puts people in direct competition with each other, having to spend all day trying to get through to the freephone phoneline, often to simply be told there are no beds available. The Irish Housing Network demands: Dublin City Council, Peter McVerry Trust and Focus Ireland put a transparent plan in place with the residents of the hostels in providing suitable accommodation for those affected by the hostels’ closure. Long term social housing stock is immediately turned over for homeless people and families through the building of housing and opening and refurbishment of empty homes. Tenant’s rights for those in emergency accommodation so they cannot be evicted without notice and are protected under tenancy legislation. Rights for Travellers and Roma people in the ability to practice their culture and have well maintained and provisioned sites available throughout the country, including the restoration of traditional roadside stopping places.

Since pre-industrial times, our world has warmed by a global average of almost 1 degree celsius, due primarily to greenhouse gas pollution from human activities. This has already triggered serious planetary-scale climate disruption, and is having devastating humanitarian impacts on vulnerable communities in diverse geographical regions. But we are not powerless. We can still act: both to limit the speed and ultimate severity of global climate impacts, and to brace our own society for the potentially drastic shocks ahead due to the climate disruptions we have already initiated. This will require urgent and radical societal transformation. That can only happen with the willing engagement and support of the people. We need a genuine, sustained process that allows every single citizen and community in Ireland to fully consider the range and nature of the changes we face, and to advance policies and actions that are commensurate with them. Only in this way can we hope to create the unity and solidarity that is essential to create a strong, resilent, and genuinely sustainable society. We need a Citizens' Convention for a Post-Carbon Ireland.

The Flaggy Shore is a beautiful, unspoilt piece of County Clare, enjoyed by many. Today, the people who run Failte/Discover Ireland/Wild Atlantic Way erected a hideous steel sign at the beach end of the Flaggy Shore. No one living along or near to the Flaggy Shore was consulted about this sign. We do NOT want it, nor do the many visitors to the Flaggy Shore. We ask that you TAKE IT AWAY NOW!! How about investing our money in the development of the roads along the Wild Atlantic Way??? PLEASE, remove this insulting sign at once.

The Department of Social Protection is meant to be responsible for fighting homelessness, not making conditions even more unbearable for rough sleepers in Dublin city centre. The recent installation of anti-homeless devices at the Department office building on Amiens street is an unacceptable measure, described in the following terms by the Director of Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) Anthony Flynn: "[From] the department that is supposed to look after our vulnerable people...This the most unsympathetic way of dealing with the homeless crisis, it's a 'not in my doorstep attitude' and we certainly condemn it." Accountability, however, has been lacking in the responses of both the Department of Social Protection and the Office of Public Works, which apparently manages the building in conjunction with a private landlord. But it's time for government to stop shirking responsibility. An Tánaiste Joan Burton is also Minister for Social Protection, and TD Simon Harris is Minister of State with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works. Let's call on them to take action against this appalling measure, and to advocate immediately for the removal of all anti-homeless devices from Gandon House.

Dublin City's 'Herzog' Park is called after the Dublin-raised Chaim Herzog who became 6th Israeli president, having fought along with Zionist paramilitaries in the late 1940s and then serving in Israeli administration. His son, Yitzhak (Isaac) Herzog is current Israeli president, who has recently called for the violent elimination of Palestinians. The name Herzog is a name long associated with the barbarity & shame of on-going Israeli aggression against Palestinians. The people of Dublin stand with the people of Palestine in the on-going Israeli onslaught. The message of the renaming of the 'Herzog' to ‘Free Palestine’ of the Dublin City Park can be another symbolic expression of the people of Dublin's solidarity.

This beautiful building has become an iconic landmark in Dublin. The building in its current form is more fitting in the area than the proposed building. The view from within St Stephen’s Green will be radically changed in a negative way by the new build.

This facility would provide a healthy and enjoyable facility to a huge number of people all year around.

Castletroy is a populated area that needs facilities to match the growing population. This park would bring people to the area to spend in the area and also minimize unscoped poop in the area as - the upkeep would not cost anything as once fenced off its purely a gate to open and close the area..

A dedicated building rather than a warehouse.