The garden's aim is to produce local food and teach gardening techniques. Empowering people to produce their own food is especially important during this time of financial, societal and climate upheaval. The community garden will be totally run by volunteers, and consistently monitored by a committee. Benefits of Community Gardens Health Community gardens increase the public access to affordable, fresh, healthy food (1). People who participate in community gardens, on average, increase their fruit consumption by 10% (1) and areas with community gardens have less obesity (3). The act of gardening is a form of exercise and so participation in community gardens promotes physical activity (1,3). Urban agriculture is also linked to reductions in stress and positive mental health especially for those suffering from mental health problems (3). Community gardens generally promote public health and improve quality of life (1) Community Community gardens promote connection with the earth and with other people (7). Working with each other and sharing resources and time builds social relationships and stronger communities. Participation in community gardens is linked with increased voter registration, civic responsibility, and reduced rates of crime (3). Compared to other communal green spaces community gardens are small scale, low cost and highly used. Community garden areas of public parks see more visits than any other part of the park (2). Resilient Food System and Sustainability Urban agriculture increases food accessibility and local food security (3,1). This is of great significance to food insecure households (3). According to Safefood.eu, one in ten households in Ireland in 2018 suffered from food poverty (8). People who grow their own food, or are a part of a community garden save money by supplementing the food they buy (3). In Seattle growers were able to supplement their produce by 30-40% (3). Many urban agriculture projects produce more than they can consume and donate the excess food to community members and food banks (3). Increasing urban agriculture increases the resilience and sustainability of the city’s food system and reduces reliance on imported produce (3). This is especially relevant in the wake of the coronavirus. Local food is generally considered to be more sustainable because of the carbon cost associated with travel. Education Community gardens can be a great platform for skill shares and events like gardening workshops, and gardening tutoring, taste-testing events or discussion events (1). In one study 20% of students that started gardening in the community garden began gardening at home (1). Community gardens can be used by local schools. This is greatly beneficial for children as gardening helps develop fine motor skills and teaches them about patience, science and where their food comes from (2). Community gardens can host a variety of workshops and help people develop tangible agricultural and organisational skills (3). References 1.Community Gardens: Lessons Learned From California Healthy Cities and Communities | Joan Twiss, MA, Joy Dickinson, BS, CHES, Shirley Duma, MA, Tanya Kleinman, BA, Heather Paulsen, MS, and Liz Rilveria, MPA 2. Community Gardening By Katherine L. Adam NCAT Agriculture Specialist Published January 2011, 3.The Intersection of Planning, Urban Agriculture, and Food Justice: A Review of the Literature Megan Horst, Nathan McClintock & Lesli Hoey 4. Multifunctional Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Land Use Planning in the United States Sarah Taylor Lovell 5.Alma Anne Clavin (2011) Realising ecological sustainability in community gardens: a capability approach, Local Environment, 16:10, 945-962, DOI: 10.1080/13549839.2011.627320 6.The motivations and experiences of community garden participants in Edinburgh, Scotland David McVey, Robert Nash & Paul Stansbie 7.It takes a garden: Cultivating citizen-subjects in organized garden projects Mary BethPudup 8. https://www.safefood.eu/News/2019/New-research-reveals-households-on-low-incomes-need-to-spend-up-to-1-3-of-take-home-income-to-afford.aspx

Bonar's Quarries are seeking permission for 25 years to open an old quarry that has already adversely affected the lives of residents of this heritage town under planning number 1952015. It has gone unnoticed by most of the community during the COVID-19 pandemic but those who remember the building damage, noise pollution, air pollution and misery caused when this quarry was last operated will not want it to return. Unbelievably, the proposal is within just 800 metres of some 23 homes, a secondary school, businesses, multiple farms and within 1 km of Raphoe, a heritage town with a population of over 1000 people and with huge historical and cultural significance. Raphoe is also home to three other schools, a cathedral, a chapel, churches, numerous businesses including a livestock mart, a tourism attraction in Oakfield Park, forestry and many farms. We oppose the noise, dust, vehicular traffic, the safety record of the applicant, water pollution, vibration, the location and the release of any poisonous landfill leachate into aquifers, and second the views of the 18 page objection already lodged. There are many more suitable locations for a quarry but this one, on the edge of our town, simply must not go ahead. Therefore we need as many people as possible to CLICK BELOW TO BACK THIS PETITION and oppose living beside a functioning quarry in Raphoe for the next 25 years.

Summary:- We urgently need to move to virtual courts to provide people with access to justice during the current pandemic. Affidavits are an essential part of the court process but cannot be completed without physical attendance before a commissioner for oaths to swear an oath on a sacred text if the person making the affidavit has religious faith. A move to a completely secular Statement of Truth was recommended by the Law Reform Commission as far back 1990 and can be enacted immediately. It is now urgently required to enable people to have access to justice remotely without being put at risk by unnecessary physical meetings. It will also bring in a long overdue modernisation of our legal system and will reduce costs for those dealing with the legal system. More Detail:- We have all restricted our activities as directed by the Government to do what we can to slow the spread of the Covid-19 Corona Virus. While legal services have been designated as essential services, legal practitioners have also restricted activities to those that are essential and that can be delivered safely. This involves most people working from home and remotely in other ways. Our courts have effectively closed other than for urgent matters and the Courts Service is to be commended in that it is seeking to facilitate a move to remote hearings as swiftly as possible. However, meanwhile, citizens awaiting remedies from the courts are entitled to access to justice in a timely fashion. Social distancing is likely to remain with us for some time and it is difficult to see the operation of our courts returning to normal while these requirements remain a necessity. Therefore, we need an alternative as a matter of urgency. In the context of a move to the remote hearings of court proceedings, it is important to understand that almost all legal business required to be done to progress legal proceedings can be done remotely, with one very significant exception. Affidavits cannot be completed remotely. They must be sworn in the physical presence of either a commissioner for oaths or a practising solicitor. These documents are an essential requirement for all court proceedings and for many non-contentious court-sanctioned processes such as the functions of the Probate Office and the Wards of Court Office. A High Court ruling on affidavits has confirmed that, as the law currently stands, if a person has religious faith, they must swear an affidavit placing their hand on the sacred text of that faith. This places the commissioner for oaths (or practising solicitor) taking the oath in the entirely unsatisfactory position where he or she must enquire if the person making the affidavit is a person of religious faith and, if so, the commissioner must then produce the appropriate sacred text of that faith for the oath to be administered in accordance with the requirements of that faith. This is a completely anachronistic practice that has no place in our modern society. The State, the courts, and the legal profession have no business enquiring as to the faith or otherwise of a person in the context of legal proceedings, unless for some reason the question of faith forms part of the subject matter of the proceedings. A person seeking to complete an affidavit should not be subject to the intrusion, indignity and potential embarrassment of having to explain their religious beliefs or otherwise to a stranger in the context of exercising their rights in a democratic republic. The case for this change was made in a report of the Law Reform Commission from 1990 which offers a very simple and succinct change to the position. The legislation required to give effect to this change has been advanced to heads of bill stage since 2017 and can quickly and easily be brought forward for enactment. It will be clear to anyone that this is a change that should have long since been made even in the absence of the current need for social distancing. But it must also be remembered that an affidavit can only be sworn in the physical presence of a person acting as commissioner for oaths who is independent of the solicitor acting on behalf of the person swearing the affidavit. Therefore, affidavits cannot be sworn without a physical meeting of two or three people, and perhaps more depending on the circumstances. There are no circumstances in which an affidavit can be completed remotely and, therefore, a system of remote court hearings cannot presently proceed without the affidavits that the litigation process depends upon being sworn physically. This need for otherwise unnecessary physical meetings is dangerous in the context of the current pandemic. Many litigants in court proceedings are vulnerable people who find themselves with no choice but to seek redress from the courts. Furthermore, the requirements for affidavits in probate matters and in the context of the creation and registration of enduring powers of attorney exposes many elderly people to the possibility of meetings with strangers that are entirely unnecessary and should be capable of being done remotely. While many of the measures required to combat the current pandemic will involve significant cost, this is a change that will be almost completely cost-free to implement. Furthermore, it will result in significant cost saving for consumers who will no longer have to pay the additional third-party commissioner’s fees that are currently associated with almost all legal transactions. Having regard to all of the foregoing, this long overdue and necessary change is now urgent. Please sign the petition now to show your support for this change. Please also spread the word with your friends, family, and colleagues and on social media to help make this important and urgently needed change happen.

It's not important. There are far more important things going on in the World. We know that. However, this is something that Irish football fans might feel strongly about. The current crest used by the FAI is awful. If you ask any Irish football fan they will tell you. We would like the FAI to consider changing the current crest and go back to a design similar to those used at Italia '90 or USA '94. The current crest is just a template crest which is also used by Israel and a number of football clubs. There is nothing unique about it. The older crests give fans a sense of history and pride. Next year will be the FAI's centenary year and a perfect opportunity to change the crest. So, we ask the FAI to please change the crest to something similar to the ones used in the early to mid nineties. Please follow our facebook page too >>> https://www.facebook.com/Change-the-Crest-115497503470609

In light of the recent outbreak of COVID-19 and the lockdown maternity leave/ maternity benefit should be extended by 3 months for those who's maternity leave was affected by the lockdown. With all childcare facilities being closed many parents face issues of where to leave their babies, with facing loosing their jobs if they have nowhere to leave them. Maternity leave is time when you and baby can attend baby groups, spend time with family, attend needed appointments and with a country being in lockdown none of these things are happening. Many babies have not met their family members or met other babies to socialise in baby groups, these things are vital for baby development, bonding and educating for babies and their parents. Due to COVID-19 many of us are scared to leave our homes and bring babies outside, with the uncertainty of when this is going to end, maternity leave and maternity benefit should be extended giving families reassurance and support. Follow us on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ExtendMatLeave2020/ or on Twitter @matleave2020

In Northern Ireland, more deaths are occurring due to Covid19 in care homes than in hospitals. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-52529270 In Ireland, all care home workers and residents are being tested for Covid19. Yet here in Northern Ireland, residents and staff are only tested for coronavirus in care homes where there is a suspected outbreak.

Eir claim to have 5MB download speed. For the most part we are lucky to get a maximum of 3MB. We are paying full price for broadband eventhough, in many households, the broadband is intermittent and drops. This makes skype/zoom/WhatsApp calls near impossible. It makes working from home near impossible. We are a remote and isolated community and especially during a pandemic we are increasingly reliant on quality broadband. Please resolve

That’s why we have to fight to make sure big businesses like Keelings put the health of the people who work for them at the centre of all their decisions during this pandemic. That includes a decent living wage, proper protective equipment, good working conditions, safe accommodation and the ability to social distance. Some people will try to use this to divide us. But we know better. That’s why we all need to stand with the people who work on fruit farms to push for the safe working environments every single one of us deserves.

Covid19 is putting a spotlight on how flawed the model of private 'for profit' nursing home care in Ireland is. They are driven by profit with many now owned by huge companies. Problems with overcharging, understaffing and poor treatment of older people have hit the headlines in recent years and now they have become the epi-centre of the Covid19 pandemic. Nurses and healthcare staff in private nursing homes are not well treated - no sick leave, overworked, part-time contracts, poor working conditions, reliance on agency/temporary.

The decision by Debenhams management to put the company into voluntary liquidation is opportunistic and cynical. Bank of Ireland is a part-owner of the business, along with Barclays, Silver Point Capital and GoldenTree. It beggars belief that an Irish bank bailed out by the Irish taxpayer, would place a company into liquidation without any negotiations with workers on a fair redundancy package.

The extraction, transport, refining and use of petroleum and petrol cause damage to people, air, water, land, animals and plants. Gasoline engine exhaust pollutes the air, causing asthma, heart and lung disease, cancer, dementia and thousands of premature deaths each year. Vehicle exhaust affects children, disadvantaged communities and communities of color most, with disproportionate impacts on health, finances and quality of life. How will it help reduce pollution? Emissions of nitrogen oxides (Nox) - which come from car exhausts - regularly exceed safe levels in many cities. Diesel vehicles produce the overwhelming majority of roadside Nox gases. So removing petrol and diesel vehicles from the roads should help bring air quality within the guidelines set out by the World Health Organization (WHO). Air pollution has been a concern for decades. But the issue gained renewed urgency when the UK government lost court cases over its plans to reduce nitrogen-dioxide levels.

It has been difficult to keep the spirits up during confinement, knowing the end of the effort wasn’t so far away, or wasted, kept the focus and the effort going. The news of the long deferral have so deflated the LC students, who were studying so hard up to now. I worry about the consequences this decision might have on their resolve up to now. It would also interfere with plans to study abroad, and would have further implications regarding college entry, after correcting time is added in. Times are tough, but there’s no need to dismantle everything and take the carpet from under their feet. College classes can be taken online, exams can be scheduled in a way that social distancing is adhered to.