There is an element of the Irish population that doesn’t seem to understand the consequences of social distancing during a time when Covid 19 is infecting more people and we have yet to develop a vaccine

The Coronavirus is beyond politics. Now is the time for all who live on this island, to stand together to face this common threat. An emergency plan must be put in place to protect us all, and prioritising those most at risk such as care home residents, asylum seekers, older people, and the homeless.

A toxic combination of being cut off from family and friends, shut refuges, financial hardship, loss of work, closed schools and community services means women experiencing violence are in great danger because of Covid19. The Courts are barely open and even though they say they'll continue to hear emergency domestic violence cases, it's clear that it victims won't be able to get emergency barring orders because all other services they need - from childcare, support workers, transport, legal advice will be either non-existent or too hard to access. Its not clear what will happen if we are ordered to go into full lockdown. Women and children experiencing violence will effectively be locked in with violent partners - and no support system. The Istanbul Convention to which Ireland is a signatory requires for special measures to be taken to prevent and protect women from gender-based violence. 22 other European Countries that are signatories to the Istanbul Convention have already granted special powers to police to make Emergency Barring Orders Regions that have already seen large numbers of Covid-19 cases such as China and have taken measures to reduce the spread by confining people to their homes have reported significant increases in incidents of domestic violence. The time to act is now. About Sisi Sisi is a collective of survivors of intimate abuse in Ireland. It formed in Aug 2018 as an action group and voice for women. This is a unique survivor led platform in Ireland, and is a highly innovative way to bring lived survivor experience to inform state institutions and policies. Our vision is an Ireland where women are free from violence, including sexual abuse and coercive control. Our mission is to support women survivors of violence, including domestic abuse and coercive control, to be leaders, and to grow and develop utilizing their lived experiences and by taking collective action in the pursuit of freedom, equality and structural change.

This is a vital and very practical measure that will help so many people and is achievable if you get behind it in the real interests of social solidarity. Please get this sharing and signing and we'll get the Government to act immediately.

As the full scale of the public health challenge posed by the coronavirus becomes clear, there is cause for concern around the ability of the two tier health system to cope with the projected number of cases. In the Republic of Ireland there are 5.2 intensive care unit (ICU) beds per 100,000 people (249 total and a further 5.3 per 100k in the North). This is against an EU average of 11.5 ICU beds per 100k. In Italy, where the outbreak is currently at its worst, there are 12.5 ICU beds per 100k and Iran, there are 4.6 per 100k. In terms of ICU bed capacity, we are closer to Iran than we are to Italy or the European average. When it comes to ICU staffing - we have less than half the number of Intensive Care consultants that state-commissioned audits have recommended and a critical shortage of ICU nursing staff too. This is the legacy of underfunding in public healthcare and of failure by the traditional governing parties to take the concerns of frontline health professionals seriously. Private hospitals in the South have between 40 and 50 ICU beds, plus surgical beds that could be repurposed for intensive care in some cases. In a letter from the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) to members across Europe last week, Italian doctors reported roughly 10% of #Covid19 cases required ICU care. If cases approach the levels that epidemiological models predict, this would mean chaos for patients, staff and public health. Covid-19 is exposing private medicine for the sham it is. Private hospitals, insurers and pharmaceutical companies have profited off the erosion of the public system, while people suffer. We desperately need to move to a well-funded, single-tier national health service that takes care of people according to medical need and not the size of their wallets. To deal with this crisis, the state should immediately move to bring private ICU and other beds into public control to meet demand as cases increase. Private staff should be seconded to the public system as required and health professionals in the public system should be consulted to ensure adequate staffing and resources.

Dublin City Council must make Raheny crossroads safe for pedestrians. The Council must remove the filtering lane for cars turning left at Raheny Church. This lane is lethally dangerous as cars routinely ignore the green man. It is only a matter of time before there is a tragedy. The filtering lane serves no function for pedestrians other than to needlessly add another set of traffic lights to their journey. Removing the filtering lane means pedestrians will no longer have to cross the road in two stages, stopping on the traffic island. The traffic island is nobody's destination so why do pedestrians have to wait there? Cars need only one green light to proceed so why do pedestrians have to get two green men to cross the road fully? There is no filtering lane or traffic island at any other corner of the crossroads and vehicles are perfectly capable of turning left at each of those corners. Why should it be any different at the corner at Raheny Church? It is time we started to prioritise sustainable transport. This is something Dublin City Council says it is committed to. It is time for the Council to live up to its fine words.

We are in the containment stage of this virus. Holding mass nationwide gatherings will increase community contact and endanger the vunerable and others to infection. Our health service can't cope with normal flu never mind Corona Virus let's help out and pledge none attendance and participation in all St Patrick days events

The number of cases of COVID-19 in Ireland is rising at a rapid rate and the HSE won’t have the structure to deal with a crisis in our island. HSE CEO Paul Reid admitted he “can’t dispute” claims that up to 1.9m people in Ireland could become infected. Due to the delay in the spread of COVID-19 in Ireland, there is an opportunity to prevent new infections by cancelling the scheduled St. Patrick's Day celebrations in Ireland. If we do not take the economic hit not, there will be an even larger economic hit down the road, and possible a loss of life.

This is Sankar Palaniyappan from India and currently living in Ireland for almost five years. Been here as asylum seeker. I spent all my time in Longford direct provision centre. I was very much hopeful to be granted leave to remain. Unfortunately dept of justice issued deportation against me. Now my life is completely broken. During my stay here I been involved various volunteers and tidy towns in Longford and helping out elderly people those who are in need. I have great connection with local community here. I got graduated MBA in human resources and MA in marketing and innovation. I am not here to burden for the state. Well able to find a job and to make positive contribution to the state and also give me an opportunity to stay in this beautiful country. I didn’t ask for anything else except stay and work legally. Rest I will make it everything myself. Here I have attached some reference and education transcript for the credibility. Sankar has fears of death threats if sent back home to India.

Because we all liked it the way it was ! And It was also a resource for locals in the D8 area who aren't students at the college; be they people from the flats, students from other colleges, unemployed, former drug addicts, you name it.

The short version: Land in the East Wall and Booterstown areas of Dublin is reserved for a hypothetical Eastern Bypass motorway (one with extremely negative environmental consequences). Dublin City Council want to rezone the East Wall land for housing. The Booterstown corridor could be used as a public transport corridor instead. But the Eastern Bypass' status in national planning documents means both of those critical needs are being blocked. We want the government and relevant authorities to change this by admitting that the Eastern Bypass is a permanently dead project, removing it from planning, and allowing the land to be used for something worthwhile. Long version: Dublin's Eastern Bypass was always a massive environmental issue — it is planned to be built across Sandymount Strand to provide an extension of the M50 motorway, for very limited benefit. The construction of this motorway is now also likely illegal under Irish government climate objectives and obligations, just as the 3rd Heathrow runway in the UK was recently declared to be illegal. Ireland is already likely to face fines because of our failure to reduce emissions, and the expansion of car usage is absolutely at odds with that target. The reserved space for the Eastern Bypass is also now blocking the construction of housing in Dublin city by preventing rezoning, as outlined in the Irish Times: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/housing-plan-in-dublin-halted-to-facilitate-eastern-bypass-1.4189623 The Eastern Bypass is extremely unlikely to ever be built — the environmental consequences of the proposed road alone massively outweigh the very minor benefits it might bring to car drivers. It has been kicked around for 50 years with truly minimal progress. It is so politically, fiscally, environmentally, and socially toxic that it almost 100% guarantees no government will ever even try to build it. So why are we continuing to retain it in our plans and therefore stop the reserved land being freed up? That reserved land is, at this point, merely blocking other types of useful development to facilitate a dead project. Most outrageously, the reserved land is also preventing the construction of homes in a housing crisis (as seen in the Irish Times article linked above). Most of the reserved land on the Sandyford to Booterstown alignment would be absolutely ideal for use in constructing a high-quality rapid bus corridor (connecting the Luas and the DART), or providing the space for a Luas spur that could serve countless new homes and the students of UCD. The Irish government, Dublin City Council, and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council must immediately work to remove this outdated, unwanted project from their plans, and allow the land to be reused.

The USA has become the world's foremost violator of all International laws regarding war crimes, torture, human rights abuses etc. Time to hold them accountable.