It's a very dangerous road and pupils are risking every time they need to cross the road going to school or coming back home. Image source: https://tinyurl.com/mrxws8n9

Many people rely on these public buses to get access to services, family and work. We should be protecting all bus routes to promote more sustainable and affordable means of travel. Don't cut rural Waterford off from public bus services. https://waterford-news.ie/2022/09/12/suirway-to-cease-public-transport-services-after-123-years/

It defies logic to construct a second cycleway instead of utilising the existing one.  The approach seems to be completely at odds with the Greenway’s own stated aim of a "maximising the value of existing infrastructure” and a “Greenway should link with community sites such as schools or housing estates as a means of commuting to work, a school and recreation” Using the existing cycleway would provide a safer infrastructure for everyone, especially school-going children so benefiting the local community as well as tourists. Using the existing cycle lane would bring the Greenway through Ballinderreen village which would benefit local communities by bringing new business opportunities. Loss of privacy to many households, destruction of natural habitat, implications to wildlife (including protected owls and bats), noise and light pollution, safety and crime concerns are among the many fears of the local community. Please Sign our petition to get existing cycle lane finished as part of the new proposed Greenway.

To ensure Victims and survivors of sexual trauma are protected during the Court process, also to dispell prevelant rape myths throughout our society that good character means someone is not capable of rape, or that they should be treated with leniency.

Liz Truss is promising to act quickly on energy prices, but because the energy market in Northern Ireland is so different it’s far from certain what that will mean for us. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research has predicted that Northern Ireland could experience a 67% increase in extreme poverty, the highest in the UK by far. And with 66% of homes here using home-heating oil as their fuel source, as opposed to 5% in England, Scotland and Wales, we’re going to need a solution tailored to our needs.

We simply cannot afford to pay for this work, particularly at this time of soaring prices. The government has received a report from the Working Group to Examine Defects in Housing which outlines the scale of the problem. It contains different options for the government to decide how to deal with this issue. One of those options is a 100% redress scheme. This is the only just and workable option. We are calling on the government to agree to implement a 100% redress scheme and to then pursue the builders responsible for this crisis.

Recent high-profile assaults on referees have shown us that our national sports have a problem. Referees will not continue to turn up to our matches if they are not treated with respect and fair play. That's why we're calling for a national strategy to tackle this problem by making it clear that people who behave aggressively or inappropriately towards referees have no place in our games.

At a time when we need to be pulling out all the stops to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the worst climate change scenarios, it is very misleading and confusing to audiences to hear people with climate denier agendas espousing policies that will instead dig us deeper into the climate crisis. The Chairman of companies Clontarf Energy Plc and Petrel Resources, Mr David Horgan, is an example. Between them, these two companies are involved in oil and gas exploration in Ireland, Iraq, Ghana and Chad. Mr Horgan has signed the world "There is no Climate Emergency" declaration (part of a project by Clintel - a lobby group funded by two Dutch millionaires) yet on 27th August he was on Newstalk's Anton Savage show to discuss "Tackling the Energy Crisis & Budget 2023 Look Ahead". In fact, he is regularly given spots on RTE, Newstalk, Today FM and Radio Nova to espouse views which no doubt stand to improve the market for fossil fuels which his companies profit from. Photo credit: Fringer Cat @nittygritty_photo

Justice for those long neglected by the state

Schools open this week but thousands of students have been left stranded - because the Dept of Education has failed to organise enough buses. Norma Foley is spinning a story that this is a new problem - but we all know that every year there are never enough school bus places for everyone who needs them. Parents are scrambling to find ways to get their children to school on time. Many will be forced to take time off work, pay for taxis, juggle already stressful days. We need to make sure school children can get to school.

This group of students were led to believe that their DBS courses would receive CORU accreditation. Many have taken out loans, given up jobs, did hundreds of hours of unpaid work, spent long hours writing assignments etc. in the belief that they would get a qualification that would enable them to work as Registered Social Care Workers. DBS's course didn't make the grade and the students are the ones who are made to suffer. No offer of refunds or any solutions from DBS. This is a major injustice.

The HSE have received a recommendation to restrict the option of homebirth, under the HSE Home Birth Scheme, to women giving birth no further than 30 minutes from a maternity hospital. This is not backed by any research concluding that women are at a greater risk outside this parameter. Women should be guaranteed the right to choose their place of birth. Placing a restriction on homebirth, by limiting its availability to those who live less than 30 minutes from a maternity hospital, denies more than 20% of expectant mothers the right to this choice. This percentage is also a conservative figure and could actually be much higher. The current application form for the HSE homebirth service outlines the procedure for safe and timely transfer to hospital, if required, making special reference to women in 'remote' areas. These guidelines are backed by evidence based studies and so, no change should be made to these guidelines, which would result in the violation of a woman's right to choice, without extensive research. It is also important to note that women availing of the home birth scheme must meet a strict set of criteria and only women who are deemed low risk, by an obstetrician, can avail of this service. It is feared that by limiting the option of homebirth to a large number of expectant mothers, there will be an increase in the number of "free-births" (births without a professional midwife present). Furthermore, homebirth in Ireland is also provided by Private Midwives Ireland, as well as the HSE. If the provision of a public homebirth scheme continues to be restricted, this means that it will be families on lower incomes - those without private health care or the means to pay a private midwife - that will be affected by these restrictions. Lastly, the publishing of these recommendations perpetuate the fear surrounding birth in our society, leading to connotations that birth is something that consistently leads to medical emergencies, rather than something that is a physiologically natural process, without the need for medical intervention, for the majority of women. Women deserve the right to choose the kind of birth they want. Women need to be given the autonomy and trust to make this choice based on accurate and evidence based information. We also need to have confidence in our community midwives, the professionals who, with their extensive training and experience, know exactly how to keep a woman safe during homebirth.