In light of the global Black Lives Matter movement, Galway City cannot, in all conscience, allow a memorial to a coloniser who stands for the millennia of systemic oppression, murder and enslavement of millions of non-white peoples to remain, as if his supposed brief visit to Galway was something to be proud of. It needs to be removed immediately, and better still, be replaced with a memorial to his victims.

Imagine cycling safely from Cork University Hospital/Cork University Maternity Hospital to Grand Parade and on to the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital, all the while separated from cars and HGV trucks by protective barriers. On the way you pass the Bon Secours Hospital, UCC and the Mercy University Hospital. Health care workers have always cycled to work, and between the various city hospital campuses. But during the COVID19 pandemic, they were given a glimpse of what it might be like to cycle safely on the then quieter streets. The traffic is back. Now as lockdown eases we urge Cork City Council to boldly implement measures that will protect us, and all citizens of Cork, who make these journeys. Clapping for healthcare workers is easy. Making the city better for all citizens requires vision and leadership. The people of Cork were recently asked through social media: Would you like to see your front-line healthcare workers protected on their way to and from work? The response was unanimous: YES! #CorkHospitalCycleway. A protected cycleway. If this is something you'd be interested in? We'd love to hear from you. Are you a healthcare worker, patient, student or local business? What would this mean to you? Where do you work? Tell us your story… We will pass on your views to the various executives in our hospitals, UCC, Cork City Council. Let us remember the recent losses and sacrifices made by our front-line workers, by enacting a real and positive change to transform our city into a healthier, safer and more caring place to live and work.

We should not have a statute of a white supremacist proudly on show in Northern Ireland. It should be removed as a mark of solidarity and support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Growing local community, business and amenities.

The improvement in air quality and the reduction in vehicle traffic during the lockdown has been immense. Many more people are choosing to shop online rather than making needless journeys to shops; as a result, delivery trips have increased. It's easily possible for a single household to receive a delivery each day of the working week, sometimes multiple drops on a single day from different companies. Being able to declare a preference for deliveries to occur on specific days of the week would allow delivery firms to combine drops, to the benefit of road users and the quality of our air.

It is a health hazard and an environmental hazard. sewage plants have a capacity and this was deemed over capacity by Fingal County Council in 2005 they then added the equivalent of 150 septic tanks to the plant and are now about to add another 43 septic tanks and a 100 bed Nursing Home. F05A/0837 F11A/0116 F15A/0116 These three planning permission state the plant is beyond capacity. they can be viewed on https://www.fingal.ie/view-or-search-planning-applications

On foot of huge sacrifices made these last 3 months by persons of all ages and circumstances, it would be criminally irresponsible to allow the thirst for tourism income and personal holiday travel to issue in a second wave.

To preserve the gains and prevent a second wave.

A still unknown decision has led to the MLU in Cavan being effectively closed in all but name under the guise of a merger with the consultant-led unit. This may be the third time Cavan MLU has faced closure and the pregnant people in the area have faced limitation of their care choices. The effective closure of the Midwifery-Led Unit on Monday 1st of June 2020 and the manner in which this decision has been taken, with no public consultation or formal announcement from either Cavan General Hospital or the RSCI group, who we understand are leading of this decision, shows a clear lack of understanding to the needs of those in the surrounding area. The claim that it is not a downgrading of service provision is simply false. For all who have accessed the MLU, either as a service user, healthcare professional or student, this closure will have significant impact on practice and care provision. To our knowledge, no rationale has been given to explain the decision. National and international evidence supports the expansion of midwifery led services. Closure of the unit limits choices for pregnancy care in direct opposition of this evidence. We cannot emphasise strongly enough 1. The retrograde nature of this decision which flies in the face of all the international evidence on best birth practices 2. And which spells the death knell of the 2016 Maternity Strategy which was specifically committed to the expansion of MLUs, not their closure Our model of maternity care relies on the majority of women going through a system of GP referral to an obstetric unit or maternity hospital. Despite the National Maternity Strategy, the dominant model of care across all our 19 maternity units is a consultant-led model of care. We have only the two midwifery-led units in Ireland (Cavan and Drogheda) and midwifery clinics across the maternity system are far too few. -- In international terms, our model of maternity care does not offer women choice of models of maternity care, something the National Maternity Strategy acknowledges clearly. Indeed, the Irish model of maternity care is at odds with best international evidence on the effectiveness of models of maternity care - The 2016 National Maternity Strategy, called for many more MLUs to be built. Instead this has not only been completely stalled - its implementation committee has met only four times up to 2019 (PQ 14615-19; PQ 14616) and the budget of the strategy has been slashed - The HIQA maternity report (February 2020) highlighted the lack of progress in supported care pathways under the National Maternity Strategy The 2003 Hanly Report on medical staffing with its overall aim of increasing still further centralisation of all hospital services continues to cast a shadow over the relevance of the small Cavan MLU – which has never had the full support of senior clinical and management staff in Cavan. If it had, it would be used to capacity and would not now be ‘merged’ with the consultant-led services. Who is affected? *this is not an exhaustive list of affected groups* Pregnant people are entitled to choice in care provision. There is no evidence at present to show that this has been supported or considered in the move to close the Cavan MLU. We hope to hear from service users to determine what plans are in place for those currently booked in the unit, those who were potentially being transferred back to the service following obstetric assessment, and those who had previously or planned to access midwifery led care in Cavan. Supporting practitioners in the Cavan/Monaghan area to continue the provision of Midwifery Led Care is vital. Evidence of support and solutions offered thus far to the midwives within the unit is needed so that as a national community of professionals and experts in normal pregnancy care can come together to save Cavan MLU. Midwives are the experts in providing pregnancy care and a wealth of evidence supports this model, referred to as “supported care” in the Maternity Strategy. Student midwives who began their training from 2018 in Dundalk Institute of Technology must complete Midwifery Led Unit placement experience as a core area, a change from its specialist area status before 2018. This reflects the importance of midwifery led care experience in well rounded learning. If Cavan MLU were to close, students would be limited to the Drogheda MLU to achieve the hours in order to qualify and register as midwives. It is already difficult for these MLU hours to be achieved between two units with the number of students requiring the necessary time in midwifery led services. The limitations that this closure will place on students has immediate and long-term consequences. Students in the 2019 cohort were due to attend Cavan MLU for placement in March/April and must make up this time due to COVID19. These students are now in limbo regarding completing these hours and gaining critical core learning experience. USEFUL LINKS; National Maternity Strategy 2016-2026 >> https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/0ac5a8-national-maternity-strategy-creating-a-better-future-together-2016-2/ HIQA Maternity Services report February 2020 >> https://www.hiqa.ie/sites/default/files/2020-02/Maternity-Overview-Report.pdf HSE / TCD 2009 MidU study >> https://nursing-midwifery.tcd.ie/assets/publications/pdf/midu-report.pdf Association for Improvements in the Maternity Service Ireland - Midwifery Led Care information >> http://aimsireland.ie/midwife-led-care/#:~:text=Midwife%2Dled%20services%20for%20eligible,further%20attention%20 AIMSI “What Matters to You” Survey 2014/2015 >> http://aimsireland.ie/care-choices/ Bump2Babe – Cavan General Hospital survey answers CLU >> http://www.bump2babe.ie/all-answers/unit/0/ MLU >> http://www.bump2babe.ie/all-answers/unit/1/

Asylum seekers are restricted from working in Ireland until they have been in the country for over 9 months. Prior to 2018 Asylum Seeker in Ireland were banned from working indefinitely. This was overturned because a Supreme Court ruling in a case, NHV, decided Ireland's policies violated fundamental rights. These historical policies restricting asylum seekers from working fuelled a cycle where people become trapped in direct provision centres and are subjected to inadequate living standards. The restrictions still imposed since 2018 are still much longer than other EU Countries such as Sweden and Portugal which allow asylum seekers to work immediately. Ireland had a recent chance to improve the lives of asylum seekers considerably and choose less restrictive options available to them when allowing asylum seekers to work. They chose lengthier waiting options for the right to work. This is contrary to recent rhetoric offered by some Irish politicians. (https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/direct-provision-system-not-comparable-with-a-man-killed-by-police-varadkar-1.4270979) Allowing asylum seekers a right to work is a step towards combating racism in Ireland, slightly ameliorating the detrimental impact of direct provision in Ireland, and recognising the human rights and dignity of asylum seekers in Ireland. MASI are an excellent grassroots organisation who are campaigning tirelessly on this issues. They can be followed and supported here: https://www.masi.ie/support-us/ *The views expressed above are my own and are I am not directly attributing them to any of the organisations mentioned

According to their accounts, Runwood Homes made a profit of almost £15 million last year. They have a record of numerous failings and examples of poor care and ill treatment at many of the eleven care homes they run in Northern Ireland. These include Clifton Nursing Home where nine residents died of Covid 19, and which is now subject to an official review. Despite this the company are set to receive money from an £11.7 million grant from the public purse to pay staff on sick leave, and purchase specialist equipment.

The system has raised major human rights concerns and the toll that it takes on its residents has been well documented by NGOs, legal practitioners, experts and international bodies with the Ombudsman and the special rapporteur on child protection both calling on Ireland to abolish Direct Provision. Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Green Party are currently negotiating a program for government.(PFG) The abolition of the dehumanising Direct provision system has become a key sticking point in the negotiations with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail not wishing to make a firm commitment to its abolition in the PFG. In order to ratify the PFG, each party will require a vote by its members and so every member of those parties has a voice on the issue. In addition to signing this petition; Please contact your local Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Green Party TD and Councillors and ask them to commit to only supporting a PFG which contains a firm and time limited commitment to the end of Direct Provision. Sample e-mail text: “Dear [Deputy/Councillor], I am writing to you as my elected representative. Your party is currently negotiating a program for government and, if agreed, you will soon be asked to vote to ratify this. I am asking that you contact your negotiating team in your party and let them know that you can only support a program for government that contains a firm and time limited commitment to the end of the dehumanising Direct Provision. Yours sincerely, You can find details of your elected representatives here https://www.whoismytd.com/ You can find more information on Direct Provision here: https://www.irishrefugeecouncil.ie/listing/category/direct-provision https://doras.org/direct-provision/ https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/irelands-strange-cruel-system-for-asylum-seekers