This would provide free and safe drinking water to the public. It would be an enhancement to our public amenities. It would cut down on single use plastic bottles and encourage a culture of re-use.

Those begging for change on the streets will now have an easier way of earning cash. By picking up litter ! Let's clean the streets of Limerick .Be a part of our campaign. Countries in mainland Europe have already introduced this kind of infrastructure. Let's pioneer it for Ireland Lets sustain our development through recycling.

The average cost of seeing a GP in Ireland now is €60 - and the cost can be as high as €80 in cities like Dublin. People are ignoring illness and not accessing care due to the cost of seeing a GP. This is not acceptable in a country like Ireland - whilst GP care is free in other comparable countries like Britain, Canada and Germany - or costs as little as €7.50 in other EU countries like France. It doesn't make economic sense either - illness costs the Irish economy hundreds of millions a year, and delayed diagnoses mean poorer outcomes and more intensive treatments for patients. We can stop this together - which is why the Minister for Health must move immediately to make GP care free for all.

Monaghan County Council could be fined because it hasn’t spent any Government funding on traveller accommodation. It’s one of 9 local authorities not to drawn down any funding allocated for it to provide the accommodation, Longford and Westmeath are also included. Over €1.2 million in funding earmarked for the provision of the accommodation has gone unspent.

Dear Department of Justice and the members of the Irish Court System, Women in Ireland are afraid to report sexual assault as they feel they will either be judged or traumatised by going through the system. This current system oppresses women and puts the onus on them to prove they were not, in some way, giving the aggressor the wrong idea. They are questioned on their state of mind, their physical state, how much they had to drink, how they spoke to them, and most of all on what they wore on the night in question. Just this week we heard about a barrister asking for a teenage girl's underwear to be considered as an indicator of her consent. "Does the evidence out-rule the possibility that she was attracted to the defendant and was open to meeting someone and being with someone? You have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front," This is a blatant attempt to reframe the narrative and hope to shed a bad light on the victim. We must not allow this language to be used in our courts and allow suggestion and assumptions to rule the outcome of a case like this. Women are being re-traumatised by the actions of solicitors in the Irish Courts. Do the right thing and protect the victims of sexual assault by not allowing the clothing they wore on the night of their assault be used against them. We need the Irish courts system to defend the victim, not the aggressor, and show empathy towards them. We need to be able to trust that the justice system in Ireland supports victims and right now they are falling very short of that. This case and that of the Belfast rape trial show just how hard it is for a victim to be shown any respect through the course of a trial. We must hold ourselves to a higher standard and treat victims with dignity and respect. We cannot accept outcomes like this. We must stand up and be counted where it matters. #ThisIsNotConsent

Why are Irish taxpayers paying two private companies – Turas Nua and Seetec to profit on Irish job seekers through the job activation scheme Job Path? Not only that but since June of this year, over 11,000 people have been referred to JobPath for a second time having already completed the scheme in full. Job seekers as Irish citizens deserve to be treated with respect and dignity as they continue with their efforts to find employment. Some job seekers need support, some can manage efforts independently. JobPath as a one size fits all programme cannot address the needs of all jobseekers and nor should it. Seasonal and part-time workers are also being forced to engage with JobPath while working and it is widely reported that Turas Nua and Seetec often demand details of employers. THIS NEEDS TO STOP.

The palm oil industry is linked to major issues such as deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, animal cruelty and indigenous rights abuses in the countries where it is produced, as the land and forests must be cleared for the development of the oil palm plantations.

1. The most senior Garda in the country knowingly and deliberately smeared a serving Garda who raised the shortcomings in performance of other Gardai. 2. The State already funded the Tribunal to establish the facts and the facts have vindicated Garda McCabe. 3. For the State to then indemnify the guilty party is further persecuting the McCabe's and also means there is no consequence for the guilty party. 4. The Minister for Justice should review the former commissioners contract of employment to see what sanctions were possible for breach of contact for bringing the force into disrepute. If there is such a provision the State should then seek to review his retirement and pension arrangements and if necessary take action to recover costs borne by the State because of his scurrilous actions. 5. This sets a dangerous precedent, where employees of the State can ruin peoples lives with absolutely no consequence for their actions. The government say that this is being done on legal advice - I would strongly suggest getting a second opinion. The legal profession won't be on the hook for the costs if this goes unchallenged, it will be ordinary citizens of this state. A functioning police force is one of the cornerstones of a democracy. We expect better from the most senior police officer in the land.

Dublin City Council are set to bulldoze the Weaver Square Community Garden & Family Allotments from 31st December 2018. This is a serious concern for ALL residents of Dublin 8: 1. Dublin 8 is being subjected to an onslaught of short-term, high-density property development (Hotels, student accommodation) at the expense of the existing community. Over 2000 such units have been constructed in 2018 in this district alone. 2. Dublin 8, a high-density urban community, has the lowest amount of green space per m2 in Dublin. Now it will have even less! 3. This is the latest Dublin 8 community resource lost to property development in 12 months. We have already lost Dublin Food Co-Op, Green Door Market & Flea Markets. There is also uncertainty over the future of Meath St, Liberty Market, St Theresas & now Players Wills site developments. 4. DCC are reneging on written commitments to keep the Weaver Square community garden/allotments. 5. There are alternative vacant DCC sites that could be used for development without destroying this valuable Green Space. 6. Over 300 people benefit directly from the community garden & allotments on a weekly basis. These social, health, environmental & educational benefits will stop on 31st December. The garden & allotments are used by schools, pensioners, community groups & families.

There are children without a school placement option if this SNU does not open in the new school year. There is a large community of families with children with autism who will need this in the future. We have waited long enough. This was sanctioned in 2015.

Limerick is a city without nuclear weapons, with no plans to stockpile them. This campaign demands the rest of the world follows suit. In a world where armies are growing, and we come ever closer to war, the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons must be brought into law. Ireland is one of the only countries in the Western World to sign the Treaty, as powerful people with money-driven agendas want to stop it from happening. However, Ireland has not yet ratified the Treaty, which would bring it into law. The United Nations & ICAN is calling on towns and cities across the world to raise their voices in support of humanity. Let's bring the movement to Limerick, and let the world know who we are. Let's ensure our children have a future. Let's make Limerick a Nuclear Free City. #icansavemycity Email me for further information: [email protected] The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is the 2017 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Having fresh water available publicly will help reduce the use of single use plastics. The European Parliament recently voted to ban single use plastics. Under the proposed directive, items such as plastic straws, cotton swabs, disposable plastic plates and cutlery would be banned by 2021, and 90 per cent of plastic bottle recycled by 2025. This is a clampdown on the top culprits of plastic products that most often end up in the ocean. Lightweight single-use items such as plastic bottles can easily travel long distances and damage marine flora and fauna. The 2107 Waste Reduction Bill, which proposes an Irish ban on single-use plastics, and a deposit and return scheme (DRS) on plastic bottles and aluminium cans, has passed initial stages in the Oireachtas. It takes three times the volume of water to manufacture one bottle of water than it does to fill it, and because of the chemical production of plastics that water is mostly unusable. When you pick up a water bottle at the supermarket, hold it up and imagine it filled ¼ with oil. That’s how much in fossil fuels it took just to manufacture a single bottle. In Ireland, we produce the equivalent of nearly 2,000 water bottles, or 5,550 disposal coffee cups, per person annually. Ireland is the top producer of plastic waste in Europe; generating an average of 61kgs per person every year - almost double what the UK produces. By introducing drinking fountains, we can make a conscious effort to reduce our plastic waste and protect West Cork's rich environment and food industry. Cork County Council have told me that they are considering this initiative but I want to show them that there is significant interest and support. I hope that with enough signatures we can make this goal a reality.