Over the 12th and 13th of November I spent time in the Cork School Music on the Wave Change programme from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland which I blogged about here. Over the two days there were speakers, such as Bill Liao and Myles McCorry of Bike Pure. We also had workshops on online and offline communication as well as some activities to get us thinking and learning about our skills. There was also a great opportunity to brain storm our ideas and help...
Are you aged between 18-25? Do want to see Social Change in Ireland? Do you want to change something in Irish Society? Check out Wave Change. Wave Change is a new programme being launched by Social Entrepreneurs Ireland for 18-25 year-olds who believe that they have a role to play in building the Ireland we all want to live in and who want to have a stronger voice in society. The programme provides training, development, seed funding and networking opportunities...
On Wednesday I found this post by a parent of a child with disbilities trying to get people to stop using the “r-word” on twitter. It documents the responses she got, some make fun, but others take her point. We need more people like her! That post brought a tear to my eye. I rarely use the word, and now I will endeavour to use it less. Then while going through my news feeds I discovered this story on the Irish Examiner,...
2011 has been designated the European Year of the Volunteer by the European Union. This is following a campaign led by Marian Harkin MEP (Ireland/ALDE). She worked with the unofficial “EP Volunteering Interest Group” to lobby the Parliament, the Council and the Commission on this initiative. Volunteering is very important in many Member States. Across the EU 92 to 94 million adults are involved in volunteering in the EU. That is 23% of all Europeans over 15 years of...
Image via Wikipedia The Irish Left Review picked up on an EU survey by GlobalIrish.ie on emigrant voting rights. Ireland is the only country in the 20 surveyed to have to voting rights for Diaspora or plans to bring it in. Greece is being forced to bring it in after a ruling by the ECHR. Will an Irish emigrant bring a case to try and force Ireland to change? Shouldn’t we change anyway? European Country – Vote at national...
Image by gelinh via Flickr A lot of the talk surrounding the Civil Partnerships Bill is concentrating on the aspects concerned with the rights of gay partners. For a change it is the consequences for hetrosexual (and homosexual may I add) of the other part of the bill to do with cohabitation is being largely ignore. Carol Coulter had a very good analysis is yesterdays Irish Times about this. It is well worth reading. This bill will affect more...
Image via Wikipedia There is a very large elephant in the room in Irish politics. It is a very important issue and it cause fierce tensions and divides, but not only in Ireland. I blogged a few years back that Ireland needs an Abortion Act and recent events are making that point more necessary! The recent poll in the Irish Examiner showing that “60% of young people want abortion legalised here” shows that young people do care about this...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife 2009 saw 240 people killed on Irish Roads. This is down (a record!!) 39 on last year. It is still a high figure. Among those killed were: 40 pedestrians, 7 cyclists, 128 were drivers 38 passengers 27 bikers. Road deaths can effect anyone. They leave devastation behind. My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those killed this. Here’s hoping that there will be less this year. So buckle up,...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife I know the blog seems to be obsessed with Strikes at the moment, but they are a big part of whats going on with me at the moment! Between asking you what you think of crossing pickets to my teachers going on strike its time that I decided what I am going to do about the strike at Boots. I have talked to a few friends about this and teachers about my predicament...
An bhfuil Bród agat?
Tonight while visiting the parents I stumbled upon Bernard Dunne’s Bród Club on RTE One. The was random in itself as my parents were in Lisvernane, Co. Tipperary who won TG4′s G-Team last Friday (aired Sunday on TG4) at the weekend and had been talking about the language. While I am far from fluent in Gaeilge Bródclub and the conversation on G-Team has managed to get me back thinking about how I use the cupla focal myself. I mainly...
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