It's been a tragedy. Last week, those who called for a postponement of operations that could be planned and for the freeing up of hospital capacities were branded as fear-mongers. "Ireland is different!" Or "don't panic!" Were messages that we received. In the meantime, you seem to have understood, Mr Harris, that Ireland can quickly become Italy and it will have been foreseeable. Intensive care units, protective clothing and nursing staff were lacking in Italy, it’s the same for us. It doesn't make a difference, however, because even with existing beds and technology, who will care for patients in the intensive care units, who will operate the ventilators? Who will checks on them when they are in pain? Delayed action is of course very dangerous in a pandemic and costs lives! We hope that you have finally understood that nursing staff are the silver line between disaster and survival for our nation. We understand that you have started instructing hospital managers to involve pensioners and students in the process. First of all, it is not you who is solely responsible for this catastrophic situation, but also your predecessors. But nursing staff should have expected a little more substance in recent years than idle promises. One thing is becoming clearer than ever: you as minister for health have the task of ensuring that in a crisis situation nurses are safe and supported. Of course, we will not save the day now by continuing to work without proper recognition and a safe environment to work in. We call on you now to give very clear promises: nursing staff are a valuable asset that must now be protected and valued! It is a pity that this truth has not yet gotten through to everyone. Sometimes, sadly, it takes a crisis for the truth to be revealed. It seems that more than 20% of all infected cases are nursing staff. And you have left it up to individual hospitals to source protective gear. It may surprise you, but that's not how it works! This pandemic has been coming for weeks! It is also not the first globally spreading viral disease. As hard-working citizens we expected more preparation for this crisis. We call for Immediate organisation and supply of effective protective clothing taking into account all possibilities. In a state of emergency, you will promise to nationalise manufacturers of equipment and their suppliers to protect our nursing staff! Immediate suspension of all exams for care facilities in Ireland. Firstly, this is a possible source of infection, and secondly, everything must be avoided that, in this crisis situation, takes additional work time for the nursing staff, which is then missing in the care of the patients. Mobilisation of all nurses from these test authorities for use in practice. An immediate and reliable promise of a strong, state-funded wage supplement for everyone who can withstand this situation, who bring their children to emergency care groups, who work overtime, who cannot take breaks, who cannot comply with rest periods. An immediate commitment of significant wage increases for nurses, which must be at an entry-level salary of 4,000 euros. You can save the refinancing for the period after this crisis. We urge you! Without these measures, the ventilation machines will become redundant, because there will be no one left to operate them! Act now, Mr Harris, before it's too late.

A way of appreciating all the effort and hard work during Covid19

The Covid-19 epidemic has affected 100 countries worldwide, and has already killed several thousand people, and the WHO have stated the threat of a pandemic is very real. It is an unprecedented public health and economic event in the era of global travel and data sharing. Ireland is in a position of having the benefit of other countries' hindsight. We are in the early stages of an outbreak at under 100 cases (which is widely recognised as the tipping point between containment and mitigation). How we act now determines whether this outbreak spreads exponentially immediately and overwhelms our already problematic health service, or whether we manage to slow the rate of infection and spread out the impact on our health service over time, avoiding bottlenecks in patient care and resources that will prove more fatal than the illness itself, and avoiding widespread panic that can be more contagious than the virus. The WHO posits a possible doubling rate of 4 days, making it two weeks until the outbreak is too widespread to contain. It is stating the obvious to say that we cannot stop this infection from spreading. However we can slow it down and buy important time to make preparations, and eventually to develop a vaccination or sufficient herd immunity to protect the vulnerable (or in a more optimistic scenario to get to the end of the Flu season when it might abate). Comparing the outbreaks in different countries and rates of spread, together with their testing and containment measures, it is clear that countries like China, Singapore and South Korea that have managed to reduce infection rates through strong action on movement and aggressive testing protocol. It is widely recognised that in countries where containment failed, testing protocol was inadequate. It is now an acknowledged feature of Covid-19 that there are a large number of symptomless/mild symptom cases (estimated by the WHO to be up to 80%). This allows for subterranean community spreading under the radar in young healthy populations, which only becomes apparent when a spike in severe symptoms and pneumonia cases among the vulnerable appear. In Singapore broad testing criteria using a combination of PCR and antibody testing have enabled much more effective tracking of routes of infection and breaking of infection patterns. The HSE’s current testing criteria are when a person has symptoms of a fever, cough, shortness of breath/breathing difficulties AND the person has been to “an affected area” OR has been in contact with a confirmed case. https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus.html This is dangerously narrow now that we have at least six cases of community transmission in Ireland not linked to travel or confirmed cases Reasonable restrictions on large gatherings such as those implemented in France (over 1000 people), together with broadening of testing protocol to a much greater degree than being operated currently would go a long way to get a better picture of low symptom or asymptomatic cases. Testing should be made widely available, even to people with only mild symptoms. Also antibody testing should be carried out to reverse engineer routes of infection. Testing protocol should be expanded to include anyone with a fever OR with respiratory symptoms without a requirement for known contacts or travel to affected areas. This is more in line with the strategy recommended by the WHO in their WHO-China Joint Mission on Covid-19 on pg.19 where they emphasise the urgent need for non-pharmaceutical measures in the early stages of an outbreak of the virus: “Fundamental to these measures is extremely proactive surveillance to immediately detect cases, very rapid diagnosis and immediate case isolation, rigorous tracking and quarantine of close contacts, and an exceptionally high degree of population understanding and acceptance of these measures.” https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf We call on the Minister for Health Simon Harris to act now to minimise the immediate lethality of this outbreak and thereby mitigating also its economic impact in the long term in Ireland.

No basis to unfairly discriminate one sector of society just because they are not married? Getting married is a choice not everyone is lucky enough or in a position to be in a couple. Why are our government penalising a part of society and reward another for getting married. This is legal discrimination and created inequality.

The habitat of birds, pollinators and countryside conservation

Families were assured that their voices would be heard. And that they would be involved in the decision making when it comes to school uniform /tracksuit

Children's Mental Health & Well being is being impacted by the failure of the Department of Education and Skills to ensure adequate places are available. This is a situation which will continue to get worse over the coming years

Mental Health is so important. Counselling therapy needs to be made available just the same as any other injury, free of charge with an immediate referral to be seen straight away.

We would like to raise environmental awareness, enable schools to generate their own green energy, with the ultimate goal of making all schools in the country energy positive and carbon neutral to help Ireland reach our commitments

Plastic packaging in supermarkets is one of the largely uneccesary uses for plastic in Ireland. We once got by perfectly without it, and that's what we need to do now. If we can support Aldi in bringing in a new zero-waste aisle, there could be a whole village-load less of plastic pollution coming from Dunshaughlin.

We cannot keep losing young men and women due to lack of support from our NHS. In the last 2 years four of my sons friends have opted to end their lives by suicide. I do not want my son to be the next loss. Please help.

To keep schoolbag and books free from spilled drinks, yogurt, smoothies, etc.,