Period poverty occurs when someone can't afford or access suitable period products. A 2018 survey of 1,100 girls aged 12-19 living in Ireland found that approximately 50% of girls surveyed occasionally experienced period poverty, with 10% using unsuitable products as a result of cost barriers (Plan International). The evidence suggests that young students are particularly vulnerable to period poverty, shame, and stigma. The government must support the provision of free period products in second-level institutions to remove barriers to participation and well-being, while also helping to break down the stigma surrounding menstruation. In 2021, the Free Provision of Period Products Bill was proposed, yet, in October 2024, it still remains in Seanad Éireann. In 2022, the HSE National Social Inclusion Office instigated the Period Dignity Project that aimed to reduce period stigma, increase education and distribute free period products to social inclusion target groups. The project was largely successful in reducing stigma and providing products to those in need. The success of this initiative can serve as a model for implementing free period products in Irish secondary schools. We call to expedite this process and to make funding available for the provision of period products in bathrooms in all second-level institutions across Ireland. We urge you to support this vital initiative by signing our petition, recognizing that access to period products is as essential as soap and toilet paper in our schools.

Students and young people are the future of this island. They will be our doctors and teachers and nurses, however with the failings of this government many are leaving here as they see no hope for a future or they are dropping out of courses as they are unable to afford to be a student. 

The affected families have been integrated into many parts of our town in Blackrock so it would have an impact on many people in the community. It is within our interest to maintain them as a key part of this community going forward. 

Only by mobilising working people on housing can we build a movement for housing with more power than the landlords, developers and vulture funds.

Community First Responders (CFRs) and other emergency volunteers are vital components of our emergency response system. These are trained volunteers who often arrive on the scene before ambulances or other official emergency services, providing life-saving interventions in critical situations. However, the current road traffic legislation does not grant them the same exemptions that official emergency vehicles enjoy, such as being able to park without fear of penalties during emergencies. Time is of the essence in emergency situations—delays caused by parking restrictions or concerns about fines can have life-threatening consequences. Without proper legislative support, CFRs are forced to navigate unnecessary obstacles that can prevent them from saving lives. It’s crucial that they have the same protections and privileges as other emergency services to ensure they can perform their duties quickly and efficiently. Why Should Other People Join This Campaign? This campaign is about more than just parking passes—it’s about supporting the people who are there for us when we need them the most. CFRs are volunteers who give their time and skills to save lives in our communities. Ensuring they have the legal support they need means that when the worst happens, help can arrive without delay. By joining this campaign, you are standing up for: 1. Safer Communities – By removing barriers that prevent quick emergency response, we increase the chances of saving lives. 2. Supporting Volunteers – CFRs and other emergency volunteers give their time selflessly. It’s only fair that we give them the legal protections they need to perform their roles effectively. 3. A Stronger Emergency Response System – Including CFRs in national legislation alongside official emergency services creates a more robust, reliable response to emergencies in every community. This issue affects everyone because emergencies can happen to any of us, at any time. By joining this campaign, we can push for a simple, yet powerful change that ensures CFRs and emergency volunteers are recognised and supported by the law. This is a step toward building safer and more responsive communities across Ireland.

Elderly health care in Ireland is an issue that affects us all, if not now, then in the future. What happens in Ocean View could evoke positive change at national level and prevent even more vulnerable people from being displaced. We want to send the government a very clear message. We refuse to let our loved ones pay the human price for a financial crisis not of their making. The government must provide a home for these citizens. 

We have found out that our community youth  space is about to be closed because the council won't continue to fund it.  The Factory Youth Space in Limerick City is a space for all the community. Every week hundreds of people use if for youth groups, dance classes, sports and disability groups. The place is hopping! Yet the council just couldn’t be bothered to guarantee funding to keep this essential space open. We are calling on John Moran, the Newly Elected Mayor of Limerick to use his new position to make a real difference to the people of Limerick and save our youth space. By Christmas the youth and sports groups will be made homeless as there are no other community spaces to be found. Even Scrooge wouldn’t kick young people with out into the cold.  We won’t go quietly and are going to kick up a stink. If enough of us shout loud enough together, they can’t pretend not to hear us. We are calling on Mayor John Moran to act on behalf of the people he is supposed to be serving.  Sign the petition to help make our voice loud enough that the Mayor can’t pretend not to hear us.   Limerick Youth Voices

From the Causeway Coast to Newcastle, NI Water have discharged sewage into coastal bathing waters across NI for 8,993 hours in 2023. According to the new analysis from the Belfast Telegraph, those pipes are releasing untreated sewage directly into or close to bathing waters that are protected by law. Not only that, NI Water is only monitoring a fraction of the pipes. NI Water needs to first come clean on the amount of sewage it is pumping into our waters. Analysis found in bathing waters in Newcastle found a pipe near the central promenade discharging for 1,532 hours! Testers are discovering forms of bacteria found in human intestines and poo. Swimmers, kayakers, coastal walkers and everyone in society deserve clean and safe bathing water. It is time for NI Water to stop protecting polluters and start protecting our waters and livelihoods. 

Since May Waterways Ireland has erected steel fences all along the Grand Canal. Waterways Ireland's antisocial management of our canals, and the government's inhumane treatment of Dublin's homeless and homeless asylum seekers must be opposed. The erection of steel fencing along the Grand Canal this year is an escalation in a long-term policy of Waterways Ireland to prioritise anti-homeless action and infrastructure over their role in restoring, developing, and pinoting Ireland's waterways. These fences are more than physical barriers; they represent the deliberate exclusion of certain groups from public spaces and, by extension, from society. This exclusion is part of a broader pattern within our economic and political system that prioritises the interests of capital over those of ordinary citizens. The current actions of Waterways Ireland, including the erection of these barriers, disproportionately affect vulnerable groups such as asylum seekers, the homeless population, and working-class people. Public spaces are meant to be inclusive areas that foster community and provide safe havens for all, However, the recent actions by Waterways Ireland have turned these spaces into sites of exclusion and hostility. The fences have an estimated cost of €30,000 a week and its maintenance assumed to continue up to October could cost as much as €390,000. This money could be better spent addressing the housing crisis by providing real solutions and support for those in need. These barriers are tools of division and exclusion. They are being used to weaponize the immigration issue in Ireland, particularly to divide working-class communities that are already suffering from the deliberate degradation of social services, including public housing, healthcare, and education. Instead of listening to our calls for a humane and constructive solution to this disgraceful situation Waterways Ireland has instead referred to it as not ideal' and has called for 'restraint’. They have refused to engage in dialogue while simultaneously claiming a commitment to “actively involving communities in the stewardship of these vital resources”. The lack of communication, transparency and accountability can go on no longer. We as residents are speaking up.  We demand 1. Remove fencing on the Grand Canal 2. No more hostile architecture  3. Stop evicting refugees and Irish people  4. Secure accommodation, tenancy rights and right to union representation through the Community Action Tenants Union for everyone homeless, in temporary, IPAS and emergency accommodation

The ongoing conflict in Sudan, which has been raging for over 15 months, has been described as a ‘forgotten war’. While we welcome the funding contributed by Ireland and the EU so far, it is greatly disproportionate to the needs of the people living in Sudan. In Ireland and Europe, media and diplomatic attention seem focused on conflicts with greater strategic relevance to political leaders but the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Sudan must not be forgotten. Since the war began in Sudan, almost 10 million people have been displaced from their homes (1), more than 15,000 people have died and a growing list of atrocities have been committed.(2) Half of Sudan’s population, or 25 million people, are currently in need of humanitarian assistance. Almost half of those are children.  Close to 4 million children are facing acute malnutrition (3) and famine was recently declared in camps housing between 400,00-600,000 internally displaced people in part of Al Fasher. (4)   Sudan is currently experiencing one of the worst education crises in the world, with over 90% of its 19 million school-age children lacking access to formal education. (5) This ongoing disruption to children’s security, health and education will lead to a generational crisis for the country with negative impacts for years to come. Urgent action is needed to protect the lives and basic human rights of all children living through this conflict.   The catastrophic effects of food insecurity and famine are compounded by the risks from infectious disease outbreaks, disruption to public health services and lack of access to clean water and sanitation. Nearly three-quarters of health facilities are out of service and diseases including cholera, measles and malaria are spreading at a time when two-thirds of the population lack access to health care. (6)  Despite these harrowing statistics, adequate humanitarian assistance has failed to materialise, with only 32% of the estimated 2.7 billion USD requirement for the Humanitarian Response Plan having been provided.(7) To put this in perspective, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU has made available almost 52 billion Euro in support for Ukraine encompassing macro-financial assistance, crisis response fund and humanitarian assistance.(8) EU funding for Ukraine is welcomed, but considering that EU funding for humanitarian assistance in Sudan totals only 1.045 billion since 2013 (9), the international community and the Government of Ireland must do more for the people of Sudan.   Ireland benefits from over 1,600 Sudanese doctors (10) working within our health service, providing essential healthcare to our population. Their families, loved ones and fellow citizens in Sudan are bearing the brunt of this war.  We must do more. We must keep advocating for far more humanitarian assistance and for far greater diplomatic endeavours to end the armed conflict as quickly as possible. Though it may not be a geopolitical issue, it is a human rights issue. References 1.    Sudan Situation: UNHCR External Update #68, 28 June – 4 July 2024 https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-situation-unhcr-external-update-68-28-june-4-july-2024  2.       https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148536 3.       https://www.unicef.org/sudan/stories/find-test-and-treat#:~:text=Sudan%20is%20grappling%20with%20one,suffering%20from%20severe%20acute%20malnutrition 4.       https://fews.net/east-africa/sudan/alert/august-2024?utm_source=press&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sudan_august 5.       https://www.unicef.ie/2024/04/15/sudan-war-second-year/ 6.       https://www.unrefugees.org/news/sudan-crisis-explained/ 7.       https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/sudan/ 8.       https://eu-solidarity-ukraine.ec.europa.eu/eu-assistance-ukraine_en#strong-and-comprehensive-eu-response 9.       https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/where/africa/sudan_en#facts--figures 10.   https://www.medicalindependent.ie/in-the-news/breaking-news/lack-of-wellbeing-support-for-sudanese-doctors-in-ireland-amid-devastating-war/

Football unites us all. No matter who we are or where we come from, our beautiful game is for everyone, right across the world. While hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are under brutal attack by the IDF, Israel is allowed to continue to compete in football competitions.  Israeli players are not neutral -  joining the Israeli army is mandatory in order to become a football player in the national team, and Israeli players have proudly posted comments on social media such as “Why haven’t 200 tonnes of bombs already been dropped on Gaza?” and “We’ll erase Gaza permanently”, with no consequences imposed by the Israeli Football Association. [1] The chance to compete on the international stage is a privilege that should be reserved for states that do not commit genocide.  We, the undersigned, call on Interim FAI CEO David Courell to give the FAI’s support to the Palestinian Football Association’s call to suspend Israel from FIFA and UEFA.  Sources:  [1] FIFA's failure to ban Israel makes it complicit in Gaza genocide | The New Arab

For the past 7 months, the state of Israel has brought death and unimaginable destruction upon the civilian population of Gaza in a stark escalation of 75 years of colonial violence. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, 14,500 of them children and 9,560 women. More than 79,000 people have been injured. 1.7 million people have been forcibly displaced, many of them multiple times. Famine is imminent - half of Gaza’s population is facing food insecurity due to the intense bombardment of the Gaza strip and the severe limitations being placed on humanitarian access by Israel. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in February,1 in 6 children under the age of 2 was acutely malnourished. An interim damage assessment by the World Bank, EU, and the UN, has estimated the total cost of damages in the Gaza strip at 18.5 billion US dollars and has found that 60% of homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. The WHO conducted a preliminary assessment of the extent of destruction wrought on Al-Shifa hospital during an Israeli siege on the facility. The WHO have described the hospital as “an empty shell” - most of the buildings are destroyed, the medical equipment is unusable and no patients remain. Israel’s latest bombardments over the last 7 months have further intensified the occupational deprivation and injustice experienced by Palestinians by denying them access to the safety and opportunity to engage in even the most basic of essential occupations. Despite ongoing advocacy by Occupational Therapists worldwide, (Arab Occupational Regional Group, Occupational Therapists and Scientists against Occupation, Palestinian Justice is Occupational Justice) the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) have remained silent on these violations of human rights and international law, and have failed to call for a ceasefire. WFOT issued a tweet on November 6th 2023, stating that their “fundamental beliefs mean that [they] are unable to take positions on political agendas of any nation” (WFOT 2023). This stance is inconsistent with the federation’s own commitment that “WFOT, its Member Organisations, occupational therapists, assistants, and students are obligated to support occupational justice and human rights. WFOT affirms its commitment to challenge and address systemic racism and continue to advocate for people, communities, and societies.”  The inadequacy of WFOT’s stance on Gaza however goes beyond its failure to call for a ceasefire, and extends to its stance on the fraught international status of the Occupational Therapy degree program currently being taught in Ariel University, in the settlement of Ariel in the Occupied West Bank. The consensus of the international community is that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law. This view has been upheld in the International Court of Justice and by repeated resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. Ariel University therefore must be regarded as having been illegally constructed on stolen Palestinian land. The university is currently subject to an academic boycott by the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement. Despite this international legal consensus, the World Federation only last year took the decision to accredit the degree programme at Ariel University. WFOT has incorrectly listed this programme on its website as located in “Israel”, a designation that further normalises illegal settlement. This is unacceptable from a professional organisation that ostensibly takes an anti-racist, human rights based approach.  As Occupational Therapists, we have an ethical duty to fight for occupational justice for all people and to do what we can to ensure that all people have equal access and opportunity to engage in occupations of necessity, obligation, and choice.