More and more people are looking for ways to avoid the slog of commuting through traffic in private cars or buses.  Cycling is a great alternative - fast, no charging neccessary and with health benefits too.  Dublin Bikes is a cheap, accessible scheme that gives people the option to cycle without owning a bike or having to maintain one.  Up to now it's been limited to between the Royal and Grand Canals - with earlier plans to expand the scheme shelved during the austerity years.  We want to see Dublin City Council expand the scheme so that people in Ballymun, Finglas, Santry, Glasnevin, Whitehall, Beaumont and further afield on the Northside can benefit from it too. 

Learning to grow your own food organically in a world where food security is a growing concern, is a valuable life skill.  Young people deserve to have the opportunity to learn to grow healthy food to ensure their ability to manage the impact of an increasingly volatile global food production system. A Leaving Certificate subject that would award 50% of the marks for practical work - as is the case with music, for example - would ensure that students can develop and maintain a school garden and orchard under the expertise of a properly qualified teacher, thereby enhancing their school environment and providing freshly produced organic food for their school's canteen.  23% of the global land surface has reduced productivity as a result of unsustainable, industrial, agriculture practices (1). Organic agriculture, which has benefits for biodiversity, soil health and water quality, is a key tool in halting and reversing this trend. Unfortunately, Ireland has one of the lowest rates of organic farming in Europe (2), which means the government should make a concerted effort to encourage the uptake of organic food production at both large and small scale.  Introducing a subject in Irish secondary schools that would allow teenagers to learn how to grow their own food sustainably would be a positive step in contributing to Ireland's food sovereignty. The subject should be based on the principles of agro-ecology, to ensure that students learn how to grow food in a way that protects and enhances biodiversity. Chemical herbicides, many of which are known to be carcinogenic, have no place in a school environment and should not be part of the curriculum.  At a time when the climate and biodiversity crises expose our food production models to ever greater vulnerabilities, it has never been more important to build local, resilient and sustainable food systems. We call on the Minister for Education, Norma Foley, to give young people the skills to make this happen by introducing Organic Horticulture as a Leaving Certificate subject.   (1) IFOAM Organics International: https://www.ifoam.bio/why-organic (2) European Environment Agenc: https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/agricultural-area-used-for-organic 

Citibank is facilitating the supply of billions of pounds of Israeli weapons and enabling the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians. Additionally, they are also funding several fossil fuel companies to drill for gas off Gaza. A report released this week revealed that Citibank is the second biggest funder of oil, gas and coal in the world. By allowing Citibank to sponsor Belfast Pride, Citibank to distract from their destructive business practices and putting the festival's values of inclusivity and freedom into disrepute - this is pinkwashing at its very worst. 

Gaelscoil Inse Chór is an example of Dublin 8 being missed out for CHILD ROAD SAFETY measures because it is on 'an aerterial road'. Parents and families are fed up hearing the excuse of ‘aerterial road’ for failing to act on road safety near primary schools. When a pedestrian is hit at 50kmph they have a 50% chance of survival. If hit at 60kmph, it’s a 10% chance of survival!  Cars are speeding up Concolbert Road and South Circular Road at 60kmph near little primary school children huddled in fear, behind OVERGROWN bushes and missing crash barriers. The families of Gaelscoil Inse Chór have had enough! This is completely unacceptable!

You should join this campaign if you are a believer in sustainable public transport, and wish to see Ireland have a rail network for the 21st century, and not continued investment into Greenways.

BBC and RTÉ are member sof the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs Eurovision. Even though the bosses of the BBC and RTÉ, Tim Davie and Kevin Bakhurst, have the power to put pressure on the EBU to expel Israel, neither have taken any action. Unlike the BBC and RTÉ, we will not let Israel artwash genocide by boycotting this year's event. Sign the petition and join our boycott today!

Israel’s genocidal assault on Rafah has begun and the scenes are horrific. There are currently 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, 600,000 are children - and still yet, Israeli airstrikes continue to bombard and slaughter innocent Palestinians. Peace talks have progressed, but Israel has only intensified its onslaught on innocent Palestinians. Our community won’t stand by while people die under bombardment in Rafah - it’s time to make sure the UK government know that this genocide is not in our name.

In 2022, former DAERA Minister, Edwin Poots, capped penalties for repeated agricultural pollution breaches at 15% in 2022. Before then, farmers who repeatedly polluted faced losing between 15%-100% of their farm payments depending on the severity of the pollution.  It should not be cheaper to pollute than to manage waste in a safe and effective way. We have a freshwater crisis in NI because of vast amounts of pollution that is going into loughs and rivers. Excess run-off from industrial agricultural processes has deteriorated the overall water quality of Lough Neagh which provides over half of Belfast's drinking water.  We have a right to safe and secure drinking water and duty to ensure that Lough Neagh and other freshwater bodies in NI are protected.  We call on Minister Andrew Muir to reinstate higher fines and properly enforce them today!

What greater act of solidarity would it be than for Cork to twin with Gaza City? Gaza was a beautiful and vibrant city before the repeated, violent Israeli attacks. Both Cork City and Gaza City have suffered from acts of vengeance. “The people of Cork have been on the streets ever since October. The solidarity has been heartwarming for me as someone who was born in Gaza and who has many friends and family still there suffering unimaginable hardship. It would be the greatest honor for them if our two great cities were to be connected by ‘twinning’. ” Nasser Al Swirki. A son of Gaza living in Cork UCC links: Gaza is a University City. All of Gaza’s universities now lie in ruins. The Gaza City university has developed partnerships with 142 higher education institutions around the world. Let’s make UCC one of those partners! CUH links? Al-Shifa Hospital was the largest medical complex and central hospital in the Gaza. We will need medical partners. Environmental Links? Now destroyed. Wadi Gaza: In 2023 the Gaza Strip’s only wetland was slowly coming back to life.

As the inhumane Legacy Act comes into force, we note the ruling of the High Court in Belfast in February 2024 that it contravenes the European Court of Human Rights. The judge said: "There is no evidence that the granting of immunity under the act will in any way contribute to reconciliation in Northern Ireland, indeed the evidence is to the contrary." [3] Every single political party in Northern Ireland, as well as victims groups, United Nations and human rights experts agree that this Bill must be stopped. No matter who you are, or where you come from, we all deserve truth and justice from the state. The Legacy Act will mean many here will be denied that. People bereaved, injured and hurt by the conflict are integral parts of our communities. We stand with them, and against the Legacy Act and the inhumanity with which it treats all here who continue to fight for the simple dignity of justice. [1]https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/victims/docs/group/htr/day_of_reflection/htr_0607c.pdf [2] https://www.jus.uio.no/smr/english/about/id/news/2024/report-reveals-state-impunity-in-northern-ireland-.html [3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-68419238

**Update May 03 2024** We have hand delivered the petition with 16,000 signatures to Minister Jack Chambers on May 02nd 2024 The Minister's team provided Email contact details which have been sent onto the Freedom Flotilla crew Lines of communication are being opened to allow the crew to apply for registration in Ireland. We will continue to update once we have more, please continue to sign and share this petition until we get the Freedom Flotilla flagged!! Below is the press release by the Freedom Flotilla who are attempting to get 5000 tons of Aid into Gaza: "For immediate release, Saturday April 27 ISTANBUL, TÜRKİYE: On Thursday afternoon, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was contacted by the Guinea Bissau International Ships Registry (GBISR), requesting an inspection of our lead ship – Akdenez. This was a highly unusual request as our ship had already passed all required inspections; nevertheless, we agreed. The inspector arrived on Thursday evening. On Friday afternoon, before the inspection was completed, the GBISR, in a blatantly political move, informed the Freedom Flotilla Coalition that it had withdrawn the Guinea Bissau flag from two of the Freedom Flotilla’s ships, one of which is our cargo ship, already loaded with over 5000 tons of life-saving aid for the Palestinians of Gaza. In its communication informing us of this cancelation, the GBISR made specific reference to our planned mission to Gaza. It also made several extraordinary requests for information, including confirmation of the ships’ destination, any potential additional port calls, and the discharge port for humanitarian aid and estimated arrival dates and times. It further demanded a formal letter explicitly approving the transportation of humanitarian aid and a complete manifest of the cargo. Again, this is a highly unusual move from a flagging authority. Normally, national flagging authorities concern themselves only with safety and related standards on vessels bearing their flag, and are not concerned with the destination, route, cargo manifests or the nature of a specific voyage. Just like when you register your car, the authorities don’t require you to detail to them every place you are going to go with the car. Sadly, Guinea-Bissau has allowed itself to become complicit in Israel’s deliberate starvation, illegal siege and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Israel is showing the world the extent to which it will go to deny Palestinians the aid they need to stay alive, in direct contravention of International Humanitarian Law, UN Security Council resolutions, and two orders of the International Court of Justice. Israel is only allowed to get away with this because we have an international order where law does not apply equally, where people are not valued the same, and where might equals right. The US has hijacked international law and is violating its own laws to protect Israel at every turn. A recently-leaked USAID memo states that “famine in Gaza is inevitable,” and that “changes could reduce but not stop widespread civilian deaths.” It also states that the government of Israel does not currently demonstrate necessary compliance with U.S. law required to receive U.S. military aid. Nevertheless, last week, the U.S. Congress passed and Biden signed a $26 billion aid package for Israel. It is this kind of naked impunity, over decades, that has brought us to this point where Israel can carry out a genocide, that includes a public declaration by Israel’s leaders that it is going to deliberately starve children, and not only face no consequences, but also involve a majority of world governments in its crimes. While our governments claim to care about Palestinian lives, they are complying, and indeed enforcing a situation where a state that has been found to be plausibly committing a genocide, is allowed to control what, if any life-saving aid gets to the people trying to stay alive. Yesterday, the UN Special Rapporteurs on the Right to Food, on the Right to Housing, and on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, issued a statement stating that civil society initiatives like the Freedom Flotilla are important precisely because governments are not complying with their obligations under international law and many of these governments are even complicit in Israel’s siege and genocide. The statement affirmed that ours was a legitimate challenge to Israel’s control over the delivery of aid to Gaza and it demanded safe passage for our flotilla. However, without a flag, we cannot sail. But, this is not the end. Israel cannot and will not crush our resolve to break its illegal siege and reach the people of Gaza. The people of Gaza and all of Palestine remain steadfast under the most horrific, unimaginable conditions. We take strength from their incredible, inexplicable ability to maintain their humanity, dignity and hope when the world has given them no reason to do so. It is our responsibility to keep that hope alive. WE WILL SAIL." We are calling on the Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, as a Qualified person under "The Mercantile Marine Act, 1955, as amended by the Merchant Shipping (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1998, and Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act, 2006" To Register the Freedom Flotilla ships as an Irish ships and allow it to sail to Gaza under the Irish Flag!

Educate D8 is a community group representing families in Dublin 8. For generations Dublin 8 has experienced under-investment in secondary education. Our Educate D8 Campaign has two main aims to address the under- provision of school places in our area: 1. To secure the establishment of a new secondary school in the area. 2. To gain access to the consultation process on ethos and patronage. Why do we need a new school? 45% of children in Dublin 8 have to leave the area to go to secondary school. 2135 Dublin 8 kids will need to leave the area for secondary school by 2026. Only 11% of children in Kilmainham Dublin 8 walk or cycle to school (active travel) in comparison with 75% in Clonskeagh Dublin 6. Kilmainham children have the longest commutes in Dublin. Children in Dublin 8 face up to a 90-minute commute to Sandymount Educate Together Secondary School, which was offered by the Department of Education as a solution to our problem. The average national commute for teenagers is 19.5 minutes (CSO, 2022). 62% of the population in Dublin 8 is not Catholic (CSO, 2022). 0% of the secondary schools in Dublin 8 are multi-denominational. 89% of Dublin 8 parents surveyed would like to send their children to a local secondary school. 6th class pupils in Dublin 8 are dispersed to up to 14 different secondary schools, decimating their community. Population growth in Dublin 8 between 2016 – 2022: -the population grew by 14% as opposed to 4.6% in Dublin City. -the population of 10-19 year olds grew by 30% in comparison to 14% growth nationally. PLEASE SUPPORT OUR CAMPAIGN AND SIGN OUR PETITION ASKING MINISTER OF EDUCATION TO GRANT US A NEW SCHOOL FOR OUR CHILDREN. Visit our website https://d8newschool.ie/ or join our campaign WhatsApp https://chat.whatsapp.com/Kl3PytsabTv1jsZfStgPTr