Irish adoptees have no automatic right to access our adoption files, birth certificate, health, heritage or history information. A right to identity is a recognised human right and adoptees are denied this right. This affects Irish Adoptees from historic, domestic adoption, along with their children and extended families.

The Irish Cancer Society say that they are getting getting letters, threatening phone calls, threats that their name will be made public if they don't the fees. This is deeply distressing and inhumane.

Vulture funds are indicative of a failed banking system. The term is coined in respect of the bird which feasts upon dead or dying creatures, it picks the final pieces of flesh from the bones. This is what is happening in Fine Gael/Fianna Fails Ireland. They are a corrupt force that take advantage of bad debt and poverty and have zero mercy in enforcing their control. The State has been complicit in this, Gardaí accompanying hired mercenaries to enact violence on people whose only crime is to want to keep a roof over their heads. We need legislate to end the sale of distressed debt to Vulture Funds. Protect Irish citizens from evictions as result of Vulture Fund acquisitions. Vulture Funds can buy a bad debt for as little as 4 cent for every €1, they then sue and for the full amount. So a customer could possibly, in theory have a debt of €100,000 - the Vultures buy it for €4,000 and sue the customer for €100,000 plus legal fees. This is a corrupt and unjust system designed to subjugate the working class and we demand that it ends, immediately!

Shockingly, even Ireland has a secret fur trade - At present there are 5 licensed mink farms operating in the Republic of Ireland. One of these also had a small number of foxes. The media reported that a representative of the Irish Fur Breeders Association said that fox farming is being phased out due to economic reasons. In 2006, approximately 170,000 mink and 300 foxes were slaughtered in the Republic of Ireland for their fur pelts. Mink and foxes on fur farms are reared highly intensively in small cages before being killed at about 6 months old for their fur pelts. The pelts are exported for sale on the international fur markets, to be used by the fashion industry. At present, mink are farmed for their fur in the Republic of Ireland. There were also a small number of farmed foxes. The type of foxes reared on fur farms are silver foxes (which are a variety of the common red fox), and arctic foxes. Killing of both mink and foxes normally takes place on the farm, and there is no legal requirement for a veterinarian to be present. Mink are pulled out of their cages and put into a gassing box that holds around 50 to 70 animals. They are gassed to death in carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide. There are welfare concerns about batch killing of mink, and also about the types of gasses used. Farmed foxes are killed by electrocution. An electrode is placed in their anus and another in their mouth and they are killed by an electric current passing through them. Compassion-Ireland is totally opposed to the use of electrocution to kill animals. An undercover investigation by Compassion-Ireland and Respect for Animals in 2003 found that mink are kept in cages about 3 foot long and 1 foot wide, with a small nest box at one end. Fox cages have a floor area of about 4 foot by 4 foot and are about 28 inches high. Fox and mink cages are usually in rows inside buildings that have open sides. The animals’ droppings fall through the wire mesh floor of the cages. Farmed mink and foxes are fed on a porridge-like food made from chicken, meat and fish offal. This is placed on the top of each cage and the animals eat it through the wire mesh. Mink and foxes are confined in these cages throughout their lives until they are taken out to be killed. (How Mink and Foxes Should Live their life in the wild) - Mink in the wild always live near water and are good at swimming and diving. They even have small webbing between their toes. In the typical river environment, mink have a range of about 2 km along the river. Within their territories, mink often have several dens that they use to rest in and sleep in. Mink spend part of their time in water when hunting and part on the land, walking, bounding, rearing on their hind legs and climbing on rocks or trees. Mink are solitary animals and adults hunt alone. Silver foxes are a variety of the red fox. In the wild, they may travel great distances. The daily mean is 6 km. They can run fast, jump well and swim strongly. They dig dens or use the dens of other animals. Foxes may be solitary or live in a group. Arctic foxes are adapted to live in the snowy environment in the Arctic regions of Eurasia, North America, Greenland and Iceland. They roam across vast home ranges of around 30 km2 and even migrate more than 100 km in a single season. Arctic foxes can travel very long distances, often 10 to 20 km in a day. They can run fast and swim strongly. They build dens on the banks of streams, on hills or in rock piles, and these may be used by successive generations for 300 years. Arctic foxes are solitary animals.

It’s time the Government stepped up and recognised that having a home is more important than rich institutions and people making huge profits off the back of the housing crisis. But, they need to know that there is massive public pressure calling on them to act now.

After years of private market failure in building residential accommodation, we must provide for a new model to tackle the housing crisis on lands which are currently in state control. Dublin 8 has been inundated with development applications for hotel and luxury student accommodation which is undermining the cohesiveness of our community. We want a sustainable urban quarter developed on the Player Wills land and this can only be done with Ministerial intervention to ensure that NAMA fulfill their social remit and deliver quality housing in the inner city.

We all need to act for the sake of our only life support system. Involving over 2 million people this will cut around two million tonnes of CO2 in just one year. Unlike a carbon tax, it would be immediately effective and at the same time keep money in peoples pockets and local communities. Over two million drivers in Ireland will become daily aware of their responsibility to future generations. The benefits are many. Safer roads Fewer deaths and catastrophic injuries, Cleaner air, A sensible transition to electric vehicles as they also use more power at higher speed. Easily duplicated worldwide It will very effectively cut imports of fossil fuel therefore keeping money in the national economy. Strategically it will give more leeway to other sectors while they try to cut their emissions. If duplicated worldwide it would involve a billion drivers contributing to the solution. Carbon tax on fuel is neither effective nor just. It unfairly impacts those on lower income while sending the message that if you are wealthy enough it is alright to produce greenhouse gases. As a former cab driver/ bus driver and ambulance driver I have in the past three years kept to 80km/hr driving all over Ireland and in Wales and it is not difficult. Check our website for testimonials from some of the over 1200 people who have taken the pledge to keep to 80km/hr on all roads already.

Food as a subject would be broad and encompass different aspects of food, from cooking to growing, from history to culture. A food subject will promote healthier eating, the local economy and our connection to nature.

Our students and their wellbeing will always be the central focus of any new educational change or reform. And rightly so. But does that mean that our wellbeing as teachers needs to be compromised? Taken advantage of? Or worse, not even considered with regard to the monumental task of creating your own curriculum/schemes/units of learning etc. The extra workload demand put on teachers over the past number of years has been catastrophic and unfortunately there is no end in sight. Once very dedicated, passionate, enthusiastic teachers are now becoming overworked, stressed, burn out and in some cases looking for an alternative career path because the current one in unsustainable and hindering every aspect of our lives. No job or vocation should impact every single aspect of your life to the extent teaching is currently. What we are paid to do is quickly becoming the last thing we actually get to do due to the extra administrative tasks/planning etc. we have to create. Our voices, our professional opinions/comments/suggestions need to be heard. We are the front line of this new educational reform. Yet we have not been sufficiently prepared for this monumental change. Whilst trying to get to grips with the new system, create new plans/schemes/Units of Learning/top notch active learning resources and practice and continue all the other roles and responsibilities we have as teachers. We also need to actively teach this brand new plan that we are desperately still trying to figure out ourselves? Surely this is madness. I matter. You matter. We matter. Please sign so that our voice is heard.

This is important because every student deserves to achive their maximum results based on what they have learned instead of how fast they can write.

Housing injustice is a national emergency in Ireland. We need a sustainable solution to the crisis. The provision of state owned rental housing on a large scale, on a non profit basis, would go a long way toward solving the problem. This would provide secure, affordable, high quality rental housing for anyone who needs it, no matter what your income is. Fair Rent Homes would mean that: - 70,000 households would be provided with a home, at a fair rent, for life - a pool of high quality, Fair Rent Homes would be there, owned by the nation, for future generations, instead of spending billions on rent subsidies to private landlords - pressure would be put on the private rental sector to improve standards and provide fairer rents in order to compete with Fair Rent Homes

According to the latest IPCC report, the next twelve years are crucial for action on climate change. There are four ambitious climate and environmental Bills which have been brought by Opposition Parties to the Dail. If the government truly wants to make Ireland a leader on climate change, it should support the passage of these Bills immediately. These are - The Climate Emergency Measures Bill (Bríd Smith PBP) - The Microgeneration Support Scheme Bill (Sinn Fein) - The Just Transition (Worker and Community Environmental Rights) Bill (Green Party) - The Waste Reduction Bill (Green Party) This is a simple ask. These are all sensible Bills which will move Ireland towards being a cleaner, greener and fairer place to live. We have no time to wait. #ClimateActionNow