Its extremely important that farmers take the time to sighn this petition , as I feel its the first step and only step in rectifying the great imbalances that farmers are experiencing, when we as independent farmers elect our own representative to hold position as minister for agriculture, then we as a farming community can work towards resolving farmers issues re instating farmers rights equality something that is being rashioned at present, we can resolve the great imbalances being experienced

The UNCRPD (United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities), is a human rights instrument with a social development dimension. It reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. You, me and our loved ones are very likely to acquire a disability at some point in our lives. To make decisions for yourself is WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN. No government or organisation should be able to remove these rights because we have not signed the UNCRPD, but this is occurring in Ireland today. This is hidden and happening each and EVERY DAY that we deny ourselves the rights under the UNCRPD. Please help remove the medieval Ward of Court System in this country now by making the government COMMENCE the long overdue UNCRPD. HELP COMMENCE THE UNCRPD

Every day we talk to women who have been struggling to get the right advice and support for their menopause symptoms. There are over 400,000 women in Ireland in the natural menopause age range of 45-55 – this does not included women who experience early menopause so the actual figure will be higher – this accounts for 12% of the population and this figure is most definitely higher for women who are in actual perimenopause. This is a sizable % of our population that need guidance, help and knowledge. Catherine started Wellness Warrior as a result of the lack of information and support she found as she experienced Perimenopause. Catherine has been joined by Mary Lynn in her goal to extend knowledge to as many women as possible. Over the years we have become increasingly aware of just how many women are not receiving the right support and advice at menopause, from their doctors, their employers and sometimes even their own families and friends. This is all due to a chronic lack of menopause education and awareness. We do not want the women of Ireland to struggle anymore and we want to pave the way for the next generation. Did you know in the last 20 years our lifespan in Ireland has risen by 27.7% - menopause is happening at the middle stage of our lives not towards the end as was more common in the last century. Catherine met Diane Danzebrink in 2019 and their shared passion to get the word of menopause out to everyone has led to us joining forces with Diane to extend her campaign outside of the UK. This is a marathon not a sprint - so to that effect our first set of goals as follows: Menopause in Irish Health Care : Mandatory Menopause Education for all GP’s and healthcare workers. Far too many women are suffering as GP’s receive very little, if any, menopause education during their training leaving them ill equipped to recognise and manage a phase of life that will directly affect at least 50% of the population. The UK published the most recent suicide figures and the age group for women with the highest suicide rate in the U.K is 50-54 - The average age of menopause is 51. (As we have no official menopause stats in Ireland we must defer to UK statistics). Help is urgently needed not just for the physical aspects of menopause but also the mental aspects. A national campaign to educate Irish Society in relation to menopause. Menopause in the Workplace: Raise awareness within the workplace and for all employers to have menopause guidelines in place to be able to support women experiencing symptoms. Too many women feel unsupported at work and currently 1 in 10 leave the workplace due to menopause symptoms. Supporting women to remain at work by implementing a few simple adjustments is common sense. Government and business need to recognize that menopause guidance in every workplace is a win win situation. Secondary School Education: Introduce menopause education in to the SPHE curriculum for all teenage boys and girls. Every woman and man deserves to understand this phase of life. Far too many individuals and relationships suffer as a result of a lack of understanding of menopause. The UK achieved this in July 2019, Ireland should follow suit. Please join us in calling on the Minister for Health (Stephen Donnelly), the Minister for Education (Norma Foley), Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Heather Humphreys) and Ministers responsible for health, work and education to #MakeMenopauseMatterIreland

The Earth's temperature is permanently increasing and 700,000 Species are extinct, the Oceans are Polluted, BUT there is no responsible action taken by the Governments and Multinational Industries.

When construction of the new harbour at Greystones, Co Wicklow, began, all harbour users, including the traditional fishermen and their boats, had their moorings and other facilities removed while the project was being built. When the harbour was complete, the other users such as leisure clubs were provided with full facilities including new clubhouses, boat yards, storage and so forth. But the fishermen and their boats were excluded. This was despite the promises and guarantees we were given before we left in 2008 and on many occasions since, and in spite of the fact that provision of facilities to commercial fishers was included in the planning approval granted by Bord Pleanala. In 2014, Wicklow County Council issued harbour by-laws which effectively excluded the fishing fleet. The by-laws give a nod to mooring rights but, by imposing other conditions that are impossible to meet, effectively barred the fishing fleet from Greystones Harbour and transformed this traditional community harbour into a purely leisure boating facility. We, the fishing families of Greystones, do not accept this expulsion and have launched our new campaign to ensure that we can return from ten years of exile to our home port, with full rights to moor, land our catch, store bait and other equipment, and generally carry on our trade as we and our predecessors have traditionally done in Greystones for hundreds of years.

 For more than ten years now, we have had to moor at Dun Laoghaire, with huge disruption to our family and social lives. We have to drive to Dun Laoghaire each morning, drive our boats back to our traditional fishing grounds near our home port, then land our catch at Dun Laoghaire before we ready our boats for the next day and FINALLY drive home to Greystones, usually well after eight in the evening after a pre-dawn start. Family life and time with our children have both suffered as a result. And being exiled to Dun Laoghaire adds €150 each week in fuel costs alone. Please sign this petition, which will be presented to the Minister for the Environment, the Minister for the Marine, and to the chief executive of Wicklow County Council. Your support can help ensure that we can come home at last, and that our skippers and crew can resume a normal existence. We now must negotiate with Wicklow County Council, and every person stepping forward to support our cause will influence how they deal with us and bring a positive outcome closer. Bring the boats home!

For over 150 years Greystones harbour and marina have been used by local fishermen. Their livelihoods are now under threat as Wicklow County Council are attempting to get rid of the local fishing workers. The local fishermen have been there a long time and are a part of traditional Greystones. We should be trying to protect these traditions rather than exile them.

Decriminalisation of Sex Workers should be of high priority.

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.

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/

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.

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.