This is important because no such issue is being considered with regard to Scotland, England or Welsh borders within UK, or with UK, Welsh or Scottish travel to the South of Ireland. NI is being penalised on our own Island, to travel within our island, on the back of a BREXIT that the majority of NI Citizens voted against in the first place. This is our chance to stand and take our place today in the fight for tomorrow and demand Boris Johnson, Taoiseach and the NI Assembly Ministers listen to and seriously reconsider this decision.

This is the largest adult safeguarding investigation in the UK of its kind. The PSNI has examined CCTV footage and has so far established that there have been more than 1500 criminal assaults on patients in a 6 bed ward in a time period of 6 months. Two weeks ago yet another staff member was sacked from the hospital for abuse on a patient. The abuse is continuing. There can be no tolerance of abuse and it is critical that the individuals and institutions responsible should be held to account. That includes those who were directly responsible for the abuses but crucially also, the institutions and individuals responsible for systemic failures or whose action or inaction otherwise permitted the abuse to occur. These people were in the care of the state and are amongst the most vulnerable in society.

It is important that we teach all children equally, as the education system as it stands is particularly ableist. As Sign Language and Braille are both universally used, this would aid the global communication of all children and teenagers throughout the course of their lives. It is just as important as English within our education system.

After weeks of mixed messages from Government and Health Officials about the effectiveness of mask-wearing, there are now efforts to make up for lost time through regulation. It took the HSE until April 22 to introduce a mandatory policy for the wearing of masks. No official advice on face-coverings for the public was issued until May 13. As of this week, it is now a requirement on public transport and more recently in shops. It is not too late for everyone to buy-in to a new regime of mask-wearing, but we must re-focus the conversation on the accessibility of masks. The State's inadequate response in this crisis of public health, brings about a request from the public and a ask for our policymakers: we demand free distribution. The goal of mask-wearing is to save lives, not to further put them at risk. There are gaping holes in the plans announced which carry the risk of fuelling public tensions between those wearing them and those who may have a valid reason for not wearing one. On this basis, we are calling for the immediate ramping up and distribution of free masks for the entire population.

Senior politicians are continuously challenged as being 'out of touch' with the electorate. Many would argue it is difficult for politicians to understand the struggles of many of their constituents because, financially, they exist in a different realm. Currently, the AVERAGE ANNUAL earnings of a worker in Ireland is just under €39,000. Meanwhile Senior politicians AVERAGE ANNUAL Salaries and add-on's are as follows; TD = €96,189 Senator = €68,111 Taoiseach = €207,590 Tánaiste = €191,403 Minister = €175,699 Minister of State(a) = €134,976 Ceann Comhairle = €175,699 Leas-Cheann Comhairle = €134,976 Cathaoirleach = €114,130 Leas-Cathaoirleach = €93,468 Leader of the Seanad = €88,288 Deputy Leader of the Seanad = €77,611 Added to this, Oireachteas members also get ADDITIONAL SALARIED ALLOWANCE of up to €19,000, Travel and Accomodation Allowance of up to €35,000 and UN-VOUCHED expenses of up to €20,000 (source https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/salaries-and-allowances/salaries/ and https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/salaries-and-allowances/parliamentary-standard-allowances/ ) Sign this petition if you believe Senior politicians AVERAGE ANNUAL earnings should be benchmarked to the National AVERAGE ANNUAL earnings, capped (with no add-on's), and Reviewed Annually, as follows; TD - Average Annual Earnings x 2 = €78,000.00 Senator - Average Annual Earnings x1.25 = €48,750.00 Taoiseach - Average Annual Earnings x4 = €156,000.00 Tánaiste - Average Annual Earnings x3.5 = €136,500.00 Minister - Average Annual Earnings x3 = €117,000.00 Minister of State(a) - Average Annual Earnings x2.75 = €107,250.00 Ceann Comhairle - Average Annual Earnings x2.5 = €97,500.00 Leas-Cheann Comhairle - Average Annual Earnings x2.25 = €87,750.00 Cathaoirleach - Average Annual Earnings x2 = €78,000.00 Leas-Cathaoirleach - Average Annual Earnings x1.75 = €68,250.00 Leader of the Seanad - Average Annual Earnings x2 = €78,000.00 Deputy Leader of the Seanad - Average Annual Earnings x1.75 = €68,250.00 All ex. Senior-Politicians pension to be capped at the level of Average Annual Earnings, regardless of office(s) held, and not come into effect until the State Pension (Contributory) Qualifying Age. (Currently 66)

Castlemartyr lacks community facilities. The residents of the community deserve adequate resources and facilities. We are approaching the 20 year mark since the original donation of funds and nothing has been accomplished. The residents of Castlemartyr want the money returned to where it was agreed the money should be utilized in a community facility.

This is the only publicly owned Golf Course in the South East and is much used. A change of use would take from the public an amenity that is valuable for low cost both for the council to provide and players to use. If anything sports facilities should be further developed for users of all ages.

The efforts made in Ireland since March 12th to protect the most vulnerable of our society, and our society as a whole, from the threat of COVID-19 which has cost over 1,700 lives in Ireland has cost our residents greatly. Many lost loved ones and were unable to grieve or hold funerals, many lost their businesses or jobs indefinitely or permanently, children have been unable to go to school or childcare, many have had their lives disrupted and we have just started to open the economy back up. To allow tourists from the most infected parts of the US to travel to Ireland at the start of reopening our economy (and arguably the most critical time in this Pandemic for the country) flies in the face of all of our healthcare workers, all frontline staff, anybody that has lost a loved one during this Pandemic (whether due to COVID-19 or not) and all workers and businesses who have sacrificed for the greater good to control the spread. Our Government has expressed their concerns over the economy and the need to reopen, but unlike many continental European countries we are allowing tourists from the United States to enter our country and multiple reports have been made of tourists arriving and not taking the "mandatory 14-day quarantine" seriously. These tourists are arriving from states with the highest COVID-19 cases in the US and from states which have new daily records of new cases as each day passes. "A second wave of Covid-19 would wipe out any chance of economic recovery in Ireland either for this year or next, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned." - https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/second-covid-19-wave-would-wipe-out-economic-recovery-1.4275388 A growing number of tourists from the US have been arriving over the past 2 weeks and Irish COVID-19 cases have been on the rise, with the reproduction number back at 1.0. These tourists have been refused tourist experiences and entry to restaurants for clearly ignoring the 14-day quarantine/self-isolation requests made by the Government. In this article, our elected officials have been quoted as admitting that these regulations are not being enforced and need to be: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/disease-expert-says-jailing-tourists-who-breach-quarantine-would-send-clear-message-1.4302794 "... Luke O’Neill, Professor of Biochemistry at Trinity College in Dublin, said it was a “big mistake” that tourists from states such as Texas are being permitted entry into the country. (from article: https://www.joe.ie/fitness-health/immunologist-us-travel-ireland-70003) While Prof Sam McConkey at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland thinks that these tourists should simply be jailed for 3 months for breaking the quarantine rules (see article: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/disease-expert-says-jailing-tourists-who-breach-quarantine-would-send-clear-message-1.4302794) it's evident that the best way to stop the spread of COVID-19 to Ireland from the US would be to ban all non-essential travel to Ireland from all US destinations.

Nursing homes are not suitable places for young people to live an independent life. Jennifer Hynes is a 42 year old woman, forced to live in a nursing home in Ennis since April 2019 with no plan agreed to end it. Up to then Jennifer lived in her own house. Due to lack of HSE support she was moved into a nursing home. She passionately wants her forever home in Ennis. Her own LA house is still vacant as we write this petition.

After watching the RTÉ investigates special and watching the nursing staff of St. James’ Hospital fight COVID on a daily basis, it was harrowing to see just what our nursing staff went through and continue to do so. These nurses watched countless people die and treated them with the upmost respect on their passing even acting as their family members due to the COVID restrictions. Our nursing staff have gone above and beyond across the country to save lives. And as the restrictions are lifted, they continue to fight COVID in our hospitals. This is not over for them and they fear a second wave. Our responsibility as the public to say a small thank you to these amazing nurses is to lobby ever single TD in this country until we increase their wages. Enough is enough. These amazing women and men deserve so much more. This is the least we could do for them. Below is a sample email to send to your local TD

Airbnb is a a major factor on homelessness. As Airbnb is so unregulated many landlords are evicting tenants to turn their premises into nightly lets. This is causing the massive reduction of properties available in the private rental market. Therefore pushing up the cost of rents. The People of Ireland are living in hotels and B&Bs while the tourists are living in the houses. Until this sector is regulated and the rules enforced this will continue to happen. Covid 19 has highlighted this, we saw 1000s and 1000s of houses lying empty because travel restrictions. I am urging the Government to do someting about this once and for all.

The insurance industry wreaks havoc on so many aspects of Irish life. Thanks to skyrocketing premiums; people have been put off the road, childcare has become too expensive, and small businesses are struggling to survive. A new law called the ‘Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill’ could help tilt the balance back towards ordinary people. But, even though the law has been passed and signed by the president - the sitting Minister for Finance says he won’t sign it because the insurance companies ‘could quit the market’. It seems the Minister is forgetting just how many drivers, small business owners and childcare centres are urgently at risk of losing everything because of massive insurance bills.