The climate crisis is accelerating rapidly with droughts, wild fires, heat waves and flooding appearing in the news more and more frequently. It is crystal clear that action on the climate crisis is extremely urgent. Ireland has passed into law a climate bill that includes the target of a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030 which will be outlined in the Carbon Budgets. In order to achieve this ambitious target massive changes to the economy and how the country functions will be necessary. The Irish public is woefully under-prepared for the transition which will need to take place. In the past the Irish Government has run campaigns to build awareness among Irish citizens in matters of public safety such as the covid-19 campaign ( gov.ie - COVID-19 (Coronavirus) (www.gov.ie) and the road safety campaign ( Ireland’s Government Road Safety Strategy 2021 - 2030 (rsa.ie). Climate change is a matter that will impact the safety of all Irish Citizens. A public awareness campaign on the climate crisis is desperately needed. At a minimum the climate awareness campaign should include the following topics. • The science of climate change, how gases such as Carbon dioxide, Methane and Nitrous oxide are warming our atmosphere and the sources of such gases. • Information on how these impacts will affect us including food security, water scarcity, increased frequency of drought, fires, flooding and storms, coastal erosion, pandemics and sea level rise. • Tipping points in the climate system which could accelerate climate change if we don’t act quickly enough. • Build awareness around a 1.5 degree global temperature rise and what it means compared to 2 degree temperature rise. • Information on what’s driving climate change including our reliance on fossil fuels, consumption choices, farming systems, diets and destruction of the natural world. • Information about how natural systems are under threat and how deeply we are reliant on the natural world; as healthy habitats and species are fundamental to and deeply intertwined with our own health and wellbeing. • Information about nature based solutions, such as re-wilding, rewetting bogs, slowing water down in catchments, planting continuous cover native forests. The campaign should be endorsed by respected scientists and overseen by the Climate Change Advisory Council. Finally, people are feeling powerless in the face of the catastrophe ahead. Collectively we need to push past the denial or cognitive dissonance which has paralysed us, into a place where we actively engage with the issue. The public need clear leadership from the government on the Climate Crisis. Please sign this petition and join us in urging the government to develop the climate awareness campaign that we so desperately need.

Cyclists and Drivers sharing the same road space is challenging and dangerous. Cycling for leisure, fast-food delivery and competitive cycling are increasing, as are accidents. It is common to be held back on a country road by three or four cyclists, cycling side-by-side, slowing traffic down. Equally, in the city, it is not unusual to be held back on a busy city street by a fast-food delivery cyclist casually cycling in the middle of the road with their phone in hand. These situations are dangerous for both drivers and cyclists. This creates a passive aggressive streak in drivers that we are all more than aware of. It is now time to address this issue. A solution to this problem is for cyclists to undertake both a theory and practical road test to understand the shared rules of the road. Additionally, I am calling for the introduction of registration plates for cyclists, so they can be identified in case of an accident. Please sign this with me and submit to our local councils. Cyclists are only doing what they are allowed and feel entitled to do. We need to ask the change makers to enact this rule of licences and registration plates to keep the roads, cyclists and drivers safe.

Junk food marketing directed at children is rampant in Ireland. It is fuelling the obesity crisis that is causing immeasurable damage to their health. The State’s own research says that 85,000 of this generation of children on the island of Ireland will die prematurely as a result. But the health and wellbeing of every child is threatened by an advertised diet that encourages poor nutrition and is damaging over time. Children as young as eight are already presenting in large numbers with high blood pressure and teenagers with a cardiovascular age of people in their 60s. It’s almost a decade since the State restricted broadcast advertising of junk food because of its detrimental impact on young people’s health. But it has failed abysmally to effectively regulate online junk food marketing that is more personalised, engaging, effective and therefore far more damaging. Multinational brands have achieved a wholly inappropriate proximity to our children, pestering them relentlessly through their smartphones and behind their parents’ backs. It’s not just an online problem. Wherever children are, junk food advertising confronts them: on television, on billboards and buses particularly near schools, in shops and supermarkets, in sportsgrounds, school campuses, cinemas, through sponsorships of children’s events, on the jerseys of their sports heroes and through promotions by music stars. There is no escape. If you agree this is wrong, please sign and share our petition today.

Everyone deserves to have passions and be celebrated for their achievements. It's unfair to exclude transgender women from being able to compete in sports that they train hard for, just like every other woman in sport. It is important that we create spaces were everyone is celebrated for their hard earned accomplishments.

We are in the middle of a cost of living crisis with fuel and food prices increasing month on month. Women experience higher rates of poverty than men. HRT is vital medication but the cost often prevents women from accessing it. Removing VAT on all types of HRT medication is an important first step for the Departments of Health and Finance to take.

Animal care needs to come before profits.

A Aire Harris, a chara, We are writing as representatives from the PhDs’ Collective Action Union (PCAU) to express deep concern with the current PhD stipend scheme in light of the cost of living crisis and coming inflation, as well as to address the grave inequality created by proposing €28k PhD stipends without increasing the pay for existing PhD researchers. The PCAU officially formed 8 July 2022 after approximately 350 PhD researchers from across Ireland came together to address the increasing challenges facing PhD researchers in the current economy. We democratically selected our Union’s stance, and now are reaching out in accordance with the demands of those in our group. We maintain that the current PhD stipend is insufficient on several accounts. All of Ireland, especially Dublin, has a cost of living crisis driven by increasing rents and rising inflation. The costs are even higher for non-EU researchers, who have to pay for health insurance and residence permits each year. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) reported an approximate 9.1% inflation of prices1 in the last year, which means that the current (average) stipend of €18.5k has the same purchasing power as a €17k stipend pre-inflation, when current first-year PhD researchers accepted their roles. A recent survey conducted by leadership in SFI funded research groups2, shows that the financial burden impacting current researchers is having a real and consequential negative effect on researchers’ physical and mental health and ultimately their ability to perform research. researchers feel they are not valued, and some have expressed doubts as to the point of continuing when they could get much better-paid jobs in industry. On top of that, Ireland recently announced a plan for a new PhD programme with a stipend of €28k per year3. In addition to the current €18.5k stipend being below both living and minimum wage, it is now creating a vast inequality where current PhD researchers will be performing equal work for only 66% of the pay of new researchers. This is not acceptable. It is in the opinion of the PCAU that all PhD stipends must be increased to €28k in order to address inflation, the housing and cost of living crisis, and the new government valuation on PhD-level research as seen in their most recent PhD funding initiative. We understand that this requires a lot of change, planning, and work. Therefore, we would like to request a meeting between you and our Acting President to discuss how PhD stipends can be brought to a livable and equitable value. Please contact us so that we can arrange a date for a meeting. Is muidne, le meas, An PCAU agus a lucht tacaíochta The PCAU and its supporters Sources 1. https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/cpi/consumerpriceindexjune2022/ 2. Please refer to the letter addressed to Dr Maysoun Mustafa, Scientific Programme Manager at SFI, on June 2nd, 2022. 3. https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/1b902-taoiseach-and-minister-harris-announce-innovate-for-ireland-a-new-initiative-to-recruit-and-retain-talent/

The phrase ‘conversion therapy,’ brings to mind harmful efforts to ‘cure’ gay, trans and other queer people… Now imagine similar coercion and trauma were inflicted on Neurodivergent people - Autistics, People with Down Syndrome, People with Intellectual Disabilities and others… You don’t need to imagine. (1) It’s real, it’s been going on for 60 years, and it is happening right now across Ireland in schools, in adult and child services, and in peoples’ homes. How could this be? Is this legal? Yes, it’s legal… It is the go-to ‘therapy’ for many Neurodivergent people of all ages to make us appear ‘normal,’ taught to psychologists and psychiatrists, social care workers, SNAs, and special ed. teachers. That is why we need your support. Behaviourist conversion methods hide behind a plethora of credible-sounding names - Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA), Positive Behavioural Support (PBS), Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention (EIBI), Social Skills Training, PECS, ‘behavioural plans,’ and others. They are so ingrained into the practice of Irish professionals that many are oblivious to the harm. It’s just ‘what you do’ for ‘those people.’ We are ‘those people,’ and we’re telling you: this is doing us real lasting harm. Almost half (46%) of those subjected to ABA display PTSD symptoms.(2) This is why our communities oppose all such ‘therapies,’ including the so-called ‘gentle ABA.’ All variants assume we are defective humans who must be shamed and bribed to mimic ‘normal.’ All it really does is teach us to silently suffer the trauma of living a lie. The UN agrees: “Autistic persons are particularly exposed to professional approaches and medical practices which are unacceptable from a human rights point of view. Such practices … violate their basic rights, undermine their dignity, and go against scientific evidence.”(3) Behaviourist conversion methods ignore our human rights. They do us terrible harm. They don’t work. We do not consent. This has to stop. Now. And yet it continues. Ireland is even hosting an international ABA conference in September,(4) possible only because this kind of conversion ‘therapy’ remains legal here. Prioritising a diversity of Neurodivergent voices in the upcoming Autism Innovation Strategy as per UNCRPD(5) may help, but will not secure our safety in law. Therefore, we call on Minister Rabbitte to ensure Neurodivergent citizens are protected from further harm by banning all behavioural interventions in this state. To find out more about behaviourist conversion, the harm it causes, and further steps you can take to help, follow the links below Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084052330540 Twitter: tbc Follow similar campaigns internationally: [links]: https://twitter.com/A4AOntario/status/1548669666066833408?s=20&t=lDtix0HmixgWn3sY0v72yw https://autcollab.org/aba https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1532818556693389312?s=20&t=2xKe2Lr09vMYcBrfw0mHHw https://www.facebook.com/BetterWaysThanABA/ https://www.facebook.com/endseclusion/ #BanABA #SayNoToABA #BetterWaysThanABA #StopTheShock ______________________________________________________ 1. Ole Ivar Løvaas: Originator of ABA & Gay Conversion methods https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/03/man-behind-ex-gay-conversion-therapy-started-trying-make-autistic-children-normal/ 2. Kupferstein, H. (2018), "Evidence of increased PTSD symptoms in autistics exposed to applied behavior analysis", Advances in Autism, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 19-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/AIA-08-2017-0016 or https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/AIA-08-2017-0016/full/html 3. UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2015 Special Report: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2015/04/discrimination-against-autistic-persons-rule-rather-exception-un-rights 4. Applied Behavioral Analysis International, ABAI Conference 2022: https://www.abainternational.org/events/international/dublin-2022/conference-home.aspx 5. UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, 2006: https://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convention_accessible_pdf.pdf

An Overdose Prevention facility is a designated place for people to take drugs under the supervision of trained staff, who provide drug treatment, mental health services, wound care and blood testing. There are 200 facilities in the US, Canada and about a dozen European countries, but none in the UK.

This is an animal welfare issue. It is cruel, inhumane&needs to be addressed now.

Ireland has repeatedly missed its greenhouse gas emissions targets and, with the transport sector accounting for 20% of the nation's CO2 emissions, switching to electric vehicles represents a great opportunity to cut emissions quickly. This also has the benefit of reducing air pollution, which will benefit public health, while the cheaper running costs will help many who are already struggling due to the Cost of Living Crisis. At present, incentives are only available for brand new electric cars - which makes them unaffordable for the majority of people. This is also delaying an affordable second-hand EV market, which needs to be prioritised if the majority of people are to be able to make the switch. A key mantra for tackling the Climate Crisis is doing more with less. Converting petrol, diesel and hybrid cars to run as full EVs is a great example of this – as it takes cars that run perfectly well, but which have high and harmful emissions, and delivers all the benefits of electric cars – such as lower running costs and no air pollution – at an affordable price. We have previously seen the Irish Government offer scrappage schemes for cars – but this has come at the cost of a lot of metal, plastic and oil waste. By funding EV conversions instead of supporting scrappage schemes, the Government can not only avoid unnecessary waste, but also help to keep natural resources in the ground by effectively recycling the cars that we already have. The French Government has made EV conversions available for a price of just €5,000, which is a much more realistic entry point for most people in Ireland. Especially during a cost of living crisis

AIB is moving 70 of their branches to cashless banking. [1] Not only will going cashless mean no notes, coins, cheques, foreign exchange, bank drafts - it will remove any drop safes, night safes and ATMs outside. This is going to cause huge hardship for many people - especially older and vulnerable people, local businesses, people who don’t have access to the internet. The greed and recklessness of banks, including AIB bosses, played a crucial role in bringing about the financial crash. [2] Homes were repossessed by banks, families lost their incomes, young and not-so-young people were forced to emigrate, businesses had to close. We cannot stand by while our majority state-owned bank hurts our communities again. [1] https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0719/1311026-aib-to-turn-70-branches-cashless-expand-an-post-deal/ [2] https://pai.ie/bank-bailout-costs-state-nearly-e42-billion/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32516942