These courts are vital for the physical and mental health of our community, especially our young people. We, the local residents and supporters of Inchicore, are calling on Dublin City Council to stop the planned demolition of the two basketball courts beside Inchicore Sports Centre, Dublin 8, which is due to take place around April 14th, 2025 as part of the Emmet Road Development. These courts are an important part of our community. They are regularly used by children, teenagers, families, and local sports groups. Removing them would take away one of the few safe and accessible places where people of all ages can play sports, stay healthy, and connect with others. Under Irish planning law, Dublin City Council must protect recreational and open spaces when developing new housing. But right now: • The plan to build a new pitch in Mercy Secondary School has been cancelled. • Goldenbridge Cemetery is being counted as open space, but it is private property, and not suitable for active sports or public access. • The Emmet Road Development will increase the local population by 800–1,000 people, yet it is reducing active sports space instead of increasing it. According to national planning guidelines, there should be at least 2.5 hectares of public open space per 1,000 residents, with a balance between active and passive recreation. The planned demolition clearly goes against these standards. ✍️ Please sign this petition to protect our local sports spaces.  Let’s work together to make sure Inchicore remains an active, healthy, and fair place to live.

The genocidal attack on Gaza isn't just fought with weapons; it's fought with money. Every penny to Belfast City council, rates, events in Waterfront, Titanic, employee wages, goes through Barclays Bank which is profiting from the genocide and handling Israeli war bonds. Barclays Bank holds the tender for Belfast City Council banking services, and we call on Council to take its money, your money, elsewhere. Since October 2023, Israel has raised nearly $20 billion through government bonds, explicitly stating it's for the war. Major financial institutions, including Barclays and the Central Bank of Ireland, have played a direct role in this, facilitating the sale of these bonds as ‘primary dealers’. And investors, like Allianz, have poured in hundreds of millions of dollars. We need to ask ourselves: what are the ethical implications of profiting from bloodshed and conflict? To do business with Barclays is to do business with a state perpetrating genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and apartheid. Barclays is bankrolling Israel's assault, investing over £2 billion and providing £6.1 billion in financial services to companies arming Israel. Their 'primary dealer' role directly facilitates the raising of funds for these war crimes. For months, activists from IPSC Belfast and the BDS movement have been on the streets,  protesting outside Barclays every week since October. We have collected signatures, spoken to countless members of the public, informing them of Barclays’ link to funding a genocide, and implored them to boycott Barclays and stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza.  Their voices, our voices, are a testament to the growing demand for justice for the Palestinian people.

Many ponies recently dead from this and many suffer neglect and injury from this no welfare protection in this country especially equine .

It will be the end of any form of rights or protections you have as a Garda

There is a consistent shortage of teachers, both in certain geographical areas and for certain subjects. The impact of this shortage means that government departments are now turning to the idea of allowing primary school teachers to work in secondary schools and vice versa. There also is an ever increasing need for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision, but currently there is not enough teachers available to meet the demand for mainstream teachers, let alone SEND teachers. Introducing a specific SEND teacher training pathway would be a great way to alleviate this issue in. Children and young people have a wide range of needs and deserve access to the most suitable educational supports possible. If they are not offered the necessary supports, these pupils are far more likely to experience educational disadvantage, limited career prospects and lower life satisfaction compared to their peers. If unaddressed, their additional needs could also result in them experiencing physical, mental and emotional health challenges. Despite the fact that so many pupils face these challenges, which have such a huge impact both on their lives and on their potential in the classroom, current teacher training programmes do not cover much content about SEND provision. This makes it hard for teachers to cater for their pupils’ increasingly complex needs. There are pupils of all backgrounds and abilities with varied personal interests in schools across the country, which is very encouraging to see and makes it easier for pupils to find peers who they can relate to. Unfortunately, this diversity is rarely reflected in Irish staffrooms. The cost of university, the high entry requirements and the time it takes, deters many people from undertaking teacher training. Of course there needs to be high entry standards so that the students go on to become competent and professional educators. However, this intense training system edges out people who have the potential to be great teachers.  Having high exam results does not automatically mean that someone would make a great teacher, nor do low exam results automatically mean that someone would not be a great teacher. There is more to education than just grades, which pupils struggling with the demands of the school curriculum would be glad to hear. People often want to have a career where they can give something back and help people as an appreciation for the help they got in their own lives. For SEND pupils, they might like to become a SEND teacher themselves, especially as they would have a great understanding of their future pupils’ needs since they have been through the special education system themselves. It can be very comforting for pupils to know that that the person who is there to help you has experienced similar challenges so totally understands how you feel. However, these SEND pupils are often the pupils who might find it difficult to get into teacher training due to the challenges they face, so are not able to fulfil their wish of helping pupils in similar circumstances to them.  Even if they did not receive special education themselves, some future teachers know before they start teaching that they would like to work in special education rather than in a mainstream classroom environment, but currently there is no option to go directly into SEND teacher training, which might discourage them from going into teaching at all. Opening up a teacher training pathway so that trainees could specialise in SEND from the start would be a great option for the following reasons; It would help to address the teacher shortage, both at primary and secondary school levels, as it would allow people with an interest in the area to train and work directly in SEND, rather than schools struggling to fill SEND teaching roles with non-SEND teachers due to a lack of SEND specific teachers. It would be a great way to attract potential teachers to the sector who might not like the idea of working in a typical classroom environment so therefore might opt to avoid teaching altogether. It would open up teacher training to more people, especially those who do not meet the usual teacher training entry requirements (for example if they did not do Irish in school due to specific learning difficulties or not having been raised in the Irish education system).  It will allow for a greater diversity of teachers, which will more accurately represent the ever increasing diversity of pupils with all different backgrounds, abilities and interests in our schools. It would give people who have experienced SEND provision (either directly themselves or from seeing the positive effect it has had on other people in their lives) more opportunities to give back to the system that they have benefitted from themselves. It would improve the quality of SEND provision in schools, as current traditional teaching programs cover very little about SEND provision, so having people trained specifically in this area would help to counteract that. It might help to reduce the demand and points for traditional teacher training courses, which would give more people the opportunity to pursue typical teaching courses, helping to alleviate the teacher shortage even further.  Thank you for taking the time to read this, hopefully it will result in the introduction of SEND teacher training pathways in the near future!   Amy Reynolds* *I am a qualified Special Needs Assistant (SNA), Teaching Assistant (TA) and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) teacher. I am passionate about education, particularly inclusive education, and the benefits it brings, especially for pupils with SEND. I myself have not been able to reach my dream of becoming a teacher due to limited entry pathways and high entry requirements for teacher training course. I now work in pharmacy and am completing an apprenticeship pharmacy technician style course. I would like my future work to combine education and pharmacy / healthcare*

Country wide.

Concerns and Issues: 1.     Hazardous Road Conditions: The road surface is riddled with potholes, cracks, and uneven patches, posing serious risks to motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians. 2.     Damage to Vehicles: Many residents have experienced vehicle damage due to the poor condition of the road, leading to costly repairs. 3.     Pedestrian Safety: The deteriorating road surface increases the risk of trips and falls. 4.     Emergency Response Delays: Emergency service vehicles, such as ambulances and fire engines, may be delayed due to the poor road conditions, which could have life-threatening consequences. 5.     Drainage and Flooding Issues: Poor road maintenance has led to inadequate drainage, causing localised flooding during heavy rainfall. 6.     Questionable Allocation of Funding: It has come to our attention that an engineer may have assessed our road but funding was instead allocated to another road in significantly better condition. This raises concerns about the fairness and transparency of the decision-making process regarding road repairs. Requested Actions: We urge Wexford County Council to: • Conduct an urgent inspection of L5060. • Allocate necessary funds for full resurfacing rather than temporary patching. • Provide a clear timeline for repairs and resurfacing. • Improve long-term maintenance to prevent further deterioration. • Review the decision-making process to ensure funding is allocated based on actual need and road condition assessments. Community Support: The residents of of Kilmichael Upper/Ballygullen/Ballygarret/Ballyowen/Ballinacoola strongly support this petition, as evidenced by the signatures below. We request that this matter be prioritised and addressed as soon as possible. We kindly ask for a response from the council outlining the planned course of action within 30 days. Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

These decisions will have a significant impact on the future of the Connemara pony and will also affect all daughter societies. It is essential that breeders have a voice in shaping the future of the breed. 

The road is a danger to all and most especially our pedestrians and cyclists. The surveys are done the measurements taken. We need contractors on the ground to make the road safe for all.

For the safety of our commuters and economical development

Preschools and early childcare services face sudden closures, forcing parents into impossible situations and disrupting children’s early learning. Let's protect Early Childcare Services and make Ireland a better place to be a parent and a child.

This is a health and safety concern.