This is important as the town of killorglin is a small town and the KDYS is the only youth service and space available in the area for the youths of the town and surrounding areas... we need this space now more than ever as COVID 19 has hit and social isolation is a huge concern with mental health issues rising in both adults and youths!! If this service is removed from the community the youth of the town will suffer emmendlessly.... please help save the future!

We need the nurses and the nurses need to be valued.

Dear, As you are aware of the prevailing situation already through this hashtag #fastTrackCitizenship , tweets, and from recent articles published in IrishTimes and Medical independent but I’ll give you a quick review of the current situation. The campaign- I am leading- is for all the immigrant healthcare workers including porters, nurses, HCAs and doctors. The purpose of the aforementioned campaign is to request the DOJ to expedite the naturalisation process for these HCWs. As you’re already aware that more than 5000 people are currently waiting for naturalisation for more than 2 years, and nearly 2300 are waiting for more than 3 years, we are afraid that with covid restrictions, things will get even worse. There will be another 1000 people who’d be applying after this lockdown and just imagine the delay which will be going to happen. I can’t hopefully believe that this is all because of covid crisis. If you check the number of people who are currently waiting, you will see that this was happening even before the current crisis but yes, things have definitely become worse as of now. During this depressing time, people have been waiting for a very long time for a little happiness and I think this (#fastTrackCitizenship) will give them a great confidence-boost and resultantly will increase their morale. They’ll be motivated instead of being anxious of their future, and will be satisfyingly happy not to go for stamps/visa and paying fees every 6 months. I wish I could do something as good to make my Irish and other EU colleagues happy and I wish, in this pandemic, I can give them something to cheer about but except from giving them my moral support, I’m not being able to do anything substantive for them. Immigrants are already being warmly welcomed by Irish people, and now the government also needs to take the initiative to do the same for these hard working, committed doctors who work here to make this country prosperous and happy. Like other natural-born citizens, they belong here, and we all belong to Ireland. Many thanks Mohsin

After working for Estee Lauder in Dublin Airport for 8 years, my company decided to tear up my contract of employment and made me redundant, along with dozens of others. They also imposed pay cuts of up to €5,000 per year on staff that weren’t let go. We’ve been on strike now for 9 days and the Labour Court has ruled in our favour, but Estee Lauder management are refusing to abide by it. We have lost our jobs, lost thousands of euros in income, and yet our company is one of the largest multinationals in the world paying out massive dividends to its owners. All we are asking for is a bit of fairness and respect for the loyalty and efforts we’ve given over decades. The Labour Court said we should receive four weeks pay per year of service for our redundancy, and any loss of earnings should be compensated at 1.5 times the annual loss (for example, if you lost €3,000 per year you should receive €4,500 in compensation). This is going to be a very tough time for all of us, but particularly for workers who have lost their jobs and had pay cuts. It would help so many of us to pay our bills our rent and our mortgages if companies like Estee Lauder looked after their workers. Please Estee Lauder, do the right thing by your workers. Implement the Labour Court recommendation. Thank you for your support. Jackie Gibbons.

Liquidation is the formal means, which companies are wound up and any proceeds distributed to creditors and shareholders. A change in legislation in favor of this petition would put the interests of workers first in the event of their jobs being lost and the employment being wound up. Its important to workers who at their most vulnerable, need and require every financial support to be implemented by their Government and for Union members to have their collectively agreed contract entitlements safeguarded by employment and company law.

Higher education in Ireland has been turned into a money racket by years of neoliberal government policy and negligence in Higher Education Institutions. While fees for students in the north and south of Ireland have increased dramatically over the past 15 years, the quality of education has been diminished. Most teaching staff are under-paid and overworked, and are given precarious employment contracts that offer little in the way of workers' rights and job security. Students are forced to work part-time or full-time during college to pay fees and rent, which has huge impacts on their academic performance and their health. Funding for essential services like student health and counselling have been cut, with further cuts planned in anticipation of the economic downturn. The fees paid by students are not being invested in education or support for students; they are instead being used to give salary increases and bonuses to the upper management of our colleges and universities. These issues existed before the pandemic, but the outbreak of COVID-19 has highlighted and exacerbated many of the issues we face in higher education. Students are shouldering a large portion of the burden of COVID-19. We have lost jobs, lost family members, worked on the front lines and are still being financially exploited by the higher education system. Student nurses and midwives in particular have played a vital role in the fight against COVID-19, but the state refuses to pay them for their work. On top of that, these essential workers are still forced to pay thousands in college tuition fees. It's clear that neither the government nor the upper management in our colleges care about education - they only care about our money. It's time for students to fight back against exploitation and neoliberalism in higher education in Ireland, and demand that student fees be abolished entirely. Higher education should be publicly funded, and those working in education should be properly paid for their work. The Campaigns demands are: - A public higher education system funded from general taxation - Abolish the student contribution, registration fees, and other fees paid directly by students. - Pay student nurses, midwives, and other students such as social workers for their work on placement. - Pay postgraduate teachers a living wage - Reverse the outsourcing of university staff, offer permanent contracts - Hire more admin and teaching staff to alleviate the workload in universities and ITs - Reverse cuts to student services - Increase the income threshold for the SUSI grant, and increase the grant allowance for SUSI - Cap rents for student accommodation and introduce a differential rent based on income

Dear Minister As writers in receipt of payments from the Public Lending Remuneration scheme (PLR), which provides that writers receive a compensatory payment for each time their works are loaned from the public libraries, we consider that the present situation of remuneration needs to be improved. This is especially so in the present difficult situation of Covid19 restrictions in which physical book sales have collapsed. There are also the difficulties for writers (and other artists) with regard to book launches, readings and other events which now, under the restrictions, are not possible, thereby leading to a serious loss of income. The current PLR rate of €0.0412 per loan has not been increased since its introduction in 2008. EU legislation states “PLR must provide authors an adequate living and must not be merely symbolic”, yet collecting bodies consider the rate in Ireland “derisory”. This matter should be visited as a matter of urgency with the representatives of the writing community, such as the Irish Writers Union. We also believe that eBook loans should be included in the data for PLR, given the current COVID crisis and the resulting enormous surge in eBook loans compared to physical loans. How can fair remuneration under PRL be calculated for 2020 if eBook loans are excluded. There is also the anomaly vis a vis the UK, whereby although there is a bi-lateral arrangement enabling UK authors to benefit from Irish PLR, and Irish authors to avail of UK PLR, there is currently a disparity between how each country’s payments are calculated. This anomaly should be addressed as soon as possible in the interests of fairness. We hope you will give this matter your immediate attention.

Student nurses and midwives have been doing incredible work during the pandemic, but it's gone unpaid. They face the same COVID risks as any other healthcare worker and the same bills, but get nothing for their work. Worse, many have had to give up their weekend jobs due to the risk of cross-infection, meaning no income to cover fees, rent, transport or other bills. They are the future of nursing and midwifery in Ireland and need to be supported.

This is important to eradicate the exploitation of student healthcare workers working 39 hour weeks and paying tuition, travel costs and more. These students sacrifice their personal safety and finances to take care of sick and injured people in our hospitals on the daily which is of major public benefit at their expense. Implementing an allowance will also reduce the need for students to work a part time job on top of college and placement hours which will majorly reduce the risk of cross contamination in hospital wards.

Debenhams workers have been on strike now for seven months. They have a collective agreement guaranteeing them two weeks’ redundancy pay per year in addition to statutory redundancy (2 plus 2). The liquidator KPMG is refusing to honour this agreement. The outcome of this dispute will have implications for all workers.

Immigrants spouses are being treated and marked as herds by giving them stamp 3/1g, making it impossible for them to access the job market. What are the spouses being punished for?? It is causing mental and health deterioration for the skilled immigrants who are suffering financially by being dependent on spouses. Isolation during covid-19 is building up some serious mental concerns as depression and suicidal thoughts. Furthermore adding to the misery of immigrants, stamp 1g is given to the graduates on job search and spouses of CSEP holders and hosting agreement holders. Recruiters are not willing to entertain anyone on Stamp 1g or stamp 3. Now with many of them listing an eligibility criteria as EU/Stamp 4 holder only may apply. Immigrants' spouses who have stamp 1g or stamp 3 are as if they are handcuffed for a crime which is simply being a dependent to a permit holder or critical skill worker. Dependent immigrants want to work and equally contribute to the society and pay taxes.

This pandemic has shown that the internet can be used to connect and strengthen communities - but only if they have high quality, affordable access. If we build a public network, we can guarantee free, quality internet for everyone.