Connemara stone walls are a distinct landmark of the west of Ireland that were put up during famine times by the local farming landlords as a way of clearing the land for the growing of crops to feed the population when it was badly needed they are a reminder of the past and now a landmark and to our heritage.They should be protected in the fullest way possible and made a protected area of importance to Ireland and its way of life

Closing Glencar Post Office will finish our beautiful parish our post office is a live line to people of our parish it’s the hub of our small community it’s a place where our elderly can go and meet and feel safe collecting there pensions they trust there local post office taking this from them will tear the heart out of our community

I have Muscular Dystrophy myself and have had to fight so hard, as have thousands of others, for the most basic things, From an accessible shower to basic walking aids. In fact I had to buy my own walker, as I was told there was a huge waiting list. This piece of equipment is vital for me to get around safely and now one of the wheels is not working on it. I and others want to have access to paid part-time work locally. Many among us are Hons Degree recent graduates.That is Level 8 and don't need other courses. It is very hard anyway to get into Level 9 courses locally full-time especially teaching as we find it next to impossible to find access to teaching practice in wide enough classrooms. Sadly that was my experience anyway in certain educational sectors.

Catalonia are being robbed financially and culturally and the majority want independence from Spain. Spain is divided up into 17 communes and each should pay 5.88% tax but Catalonia pay over 20%.Their infrasture has not been invested in with road charges going straight to Madrid while most of the rest of Spain enjoy no tolls on their roads. Their trains are over 40 years old as the rest of Spains trains have been updated while their system is falling apart. Catalonia are forbidden to create flights to the USA therefore American businesses set up in Madrid instead. Catalonia are not allowed to use renewable energies in such a sunny climate as this would affect profits for electricity suppliers based in Madrid. An agreement that Spain would reimburse Catalonia with 769 million euro was reneged upon.Spain also are trying to wipe out the Catalan language by not funding schools to teach it. There are 50 corruption cases opened with no sign of anyone been held responsible. Catalonians want a Republic like ours and not a dictatorship and I think Ireland should stand behind them.

Poor infrastructure has led to the Northwest region being underdeveloped. Most young people leave the region in search of better job opportunities. This inturn has lead to the region being sparsely populated and thus is seen as unimportant.

This is important because these three areas are in the county of Tipperary and that is where all locals have voted previously. This is a decision that they were not consulted on and which has left many people infuriated. All three areas will now be left in a situation where they will vote in Tipperary in local elections and in Limerick City for Dáil Éireann elections. This leaves all areas in a precarious situation. The economic interests of all areas are best suited in Tipperary, where local and national politicians can work together in the best interest of the areas.

Scooters Youth Club calls for reinstatement of services in Rathangan “There is not enough people harming themselves, is that why they took away the services? Do more people have to die in order for us to get services in Rathangan?” Evan Dowling, junior leader, Scooters Youth Club Young people of Rathangan are outraged after hearing the news that the funding for both the local youth counselling service and the youth worker are being cut by the HSE. A group of young people currently volunteering as junior leaders in Scooters Youth Club Rathangan have come together to express concerns for themselves, their peers and the next generation of young people after it has been confirmed that the HSE will no longer fund youth services in the area. The part time positions of both the counsellor and youth worker will cease by the end of April after almost three years. The positions, originally funded on a six monthly basis following a large number of suicides in a short period of time in the area have been renewed several times in the past, however the HSE have confirmed that the funding will cease at the end of the current contracts. We are asking people who are interested in getting involved in our campaign to follow our progress on social media on Snapchat Twitter Rathangan S.O.S and Facebook Rathangan S.O.S to support our Uplift campaign. Local TD’s, councillors and other stakeholders are currently being contacted to meet with the group of young people to discuss the impact of losing the services in the area and to devise a possible action plan. Strategies and possible solutions have been identified by the group such as; HSE selling their empty properties in Rathangan in order to fund the services, or the possibility of a mobile counsellor which services other areas as well as Rathangan. The loss of the youth worker now means that the youth café in the newly refurbished community centre will only open four hours per week compared to the current twenty three hours of use. Lisa Ennis a volunteer in Scooters Youth Club said; “The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs published a best practice guide for Youth Café’s in Ireland which clearly states that ‘the work within a youth café needs to be supported by trained professionals, such as youth workers’, it is not good enough for the state to provide us with funding for a space and take away funding for a youth worker to run it, nor is it good enough for our counselling service to be taken away with no alternative put in place. We feel as if we are being abandoned by the state after a plaster was put over the issue, but if we do not address the roots of access to transport and services, unemployment, inequality, isolation and poverty in our village the issues will arise again”. Evan Dowling a junior leader in Scooters Youth Club said; “There is not enough people harming themselves, is that why they took away the services? Do more people have to die in order for us to get services in Rathangan?” Unfortunately the issues faced by the young people of Rathangan are a common feature in Ireland today and in particular in rural Ireland, although funding for youth services was increased by 2.5% in last year’s budget the youth sector has seen an overall cut of 28.5% since 2008. Additionally access to transport and rural isolation remains a national issue with rural isolation being a reoccurring theme in the government’s new Action Plan for Rural Development. The government need to invest more in areas such as Rathangan in order to create happier and more sustainable communities.