Everyone and every young professional should be able to afford a roof over their head, a house or apartment, not a shoebox room and communal dining and washing facilities. They now want to cage us as they milk us.

Ireland has changed, we are a more inclusive, equal and progressive society and sex education in Irish schools must reflect this. Young people we work with have said that sex education is not fit for purpose, does not reflect the variety of identities and sexual orientation of people today, putting the health and safety of young people at risk. Recommendations by the Oireachtas Committee on Relationships and Sexual Health, and the NCCA Review of the RSE, echo what our young people say.

This is a vital service for parents and children in the community. Pressure needs to be put on Dublin City Council and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to come up with a solution to sustain this creche

Senator Ged Nash, alongside Labour colleagues, have backed a Seanad proposed Bill, ensuring employees are given the right to receive customer provided tips. A Bill that would give workers in restaurants and hotels the right to keep their tips is going through the Seanad. I know from my own work representing students just how much hospitality workers depend on tips to supplement their meagre hourly rates of pay. Too often, tips intended for hardworking staff end up in someone else’s pocket and with no legal course of action available to them. Most bar and restaurant owners and managers play fair when it comes to distributing the tips to staff. It is only the bad bosses who have anything to fear from these new proposals. Labour, USI and the trade union movement support this Bill from Senator Paul Gavan, but Fine Gael want to vote it down. The message is simple - workers must have a right to keep their tips. Read Senator Ged Nash's statement on the matter here: https://www.labour.ie/news/2019/02/20/labour-backs-bill-ensuring-employees-rights-to-cus/

We have a decade left to avert a complete climate breakdown yet our emissions are still rising. To change this we need to first recognise and verbalise our current predicament: we are in a climate emergency. In itself, it is a small, symbolic step - but declaring a climate emergency is an effective way to engage the public sector, business and society in stepping up action to the level needed.

Every 18 hours in 2018 someone tested positive for HIV in Ireland. HIV infections reached a record high of 531 people in 2018. This could have been avoided if there was adequate resources and funding to fully implement prevention methods such as easily accessible nationwide HIV testing and a national PrEP programme. These two measures are proven to reduce infection rates. Antiretroviral Therapy is now so effective that when on treatment for HIV the virus is suppressed in a persons system so well they have a suppressed viral load. This means they cannot pass HIV to another person. Undetectable equals Untransmittable is a very important message which should be promoted and celebrated. Ireland has become a very progressive and open society in the last number of years, however HIV positive people still face unwarranted stigma. This stigma has led to poor mental health and low self esteem. The stigma that surrounds HIV is also a barrier to getting tested and seeking treatment. Education is the key to undoing years of misinformation and stigma and will help HIV positive people lead ordinary lives free from discrimination. We have the knowledge and methods to drastically reduce HIV infections, what we need now is political desire and commitment to make this a reality.

This is important because CE Scheme Workers are only afforded part-time hours by the rules of the CE Scheme and this is a demand to make work pay. The breadline is not an acceptable position to be in for workers who through no fault of their own are on the entry level end of the labour market.

All patients should have the right to use all treatment suitable for them to have an opertunity to fight for a better quality of life and possible cure. Your chance of survival or quality of life should never be determined by the size of your wallet.

For two years, Human Rights Watch has spoken with Airbnb about their brokering of rentals in West Bank settlements that are illegal under international humanitarian law and for which Palestinian ID holders are effectively barred from entering. The settlement movement has sought to encourage tourism in occupied land, with the help of the Israeli government, which established national parks there. A leaked European Union report said some projects were being used “as a political tool to … support, legitimise and expand settlements”. Irish people know only too well the negative consequences of imperialist racist occupation. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/nov/19/airbnb-removes-rentals-in-israeli-west-bank-settlements

This is because the Finn Valley has a growing elderly population and a reducing number of potential family carers. Also parts of the area have little access to public transport and are quite isolated i.e the border and gaeltacht areas. For over three years the People of the Finn Valley and wider Donegal area have been asking the question about what is the future of St Josephs Community Hospital in Stranorlar, Co. Donegal. The government and HSE representatives have never given a clear answer on the future of the Hospital and have even provided conflicting information. The people of the area have twice held well attended public demonstraions where they marched from the Hospital in Stranorlar to Jacksons Hotel in Ballybofey a distance of 2.6km. Many who marched were over 60 and feel abandoned by the way they are being treated. We wish to know the answer of how many and what types of beds that are planned to be serviced at the hospital. What staffing levels will be retained in future at St Josephs in terms of Doctors, Nurses, Nursing Assistants, Administration and Ancillary staff. We want to know now what Capital Budget and other Budgets will be allocated and the plans that will be transformed into buildings i.e. refurbushements, extensions etc so as to meet HIQA standards.

It is important because I feel the cost and construction of the crossings could have and should have been put to better use. I feel that a one-way system around secondary school would have solved the problem and would have cost less, it is also important because it puts the safety of drivers and school children on the line and since they have been constructed one fatal accident has occurred at the location. Finally, it is important for those with authority to focus on smaller projects which would benefit communities more instead of larger un-necessary projects which cost more money.

With the homeless figures officially exceeding the 10,000 mark, it is blatantly obvious to the public how ineffectual Minister Eoghan Murphy is. 10,000 men, women and children forced to live on the streets or in temporary shelters. Despite numerous protest marches and numerous demands from the public to deal with this EXTREMELY important issue, Minister Eoghan Murphy has time and again not dealt with this matter and despite all the promises that were made to deal with this matter effectively, the situation has gravely worsened. For the sake of all the people whose lives are at a risk on a daily basis on the streets, it is now high time for Eoghan Murphy to resign and for someone COMPETENT to take on the job.