For weeks now, we’ve been reading and listening to the horror stories coming out of our emergency departments. Just last Sunday, a leading surgeon said that delays in moving patients into emergency departments from ambulances is leading to a loss of life. No matter if you are a hospital worker or a patient, we all deserve a well-run and fully-funded healthcare system. We, the undersigned, don’t accept the current state of our healthcare system and demand that the Executive works towards fixing it. 

The genocide in Gaza has been livestreamed to the world since October 7 2023. Conservative estimates put the number of people killed as approx. 68,000 (recent figures published by The Lancet) with over 100,000 maimed and injured. Our governments have paid lip service rather than take any meaningful action against Israel. The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel is guilty of committing plausible genocide in Gaza. Israel has displayed intent in the words of its government officials, in its deliberate denial of humanitarian aid, food, preventing safe births to mention a few. In 2024 our petition to Boycott the White House St Patrick's Day Celebrations got more than 20,000 signatures. The pressure we put on politicians not to go resulted in MP for Foyle Colum Eastwood (SDLP) deciding not to go.  This year we have an opportunity to build on this. Through constant lobbying and pressure, Ireland is now a party to the case South Africa is taking against Israel in the International Courts of Justice. People pressure also forced Israel to close its embassy in Ireland.  We call on all political parties on the island of Ireland to listen to the people and not go to Washington on St. Patrick's Day to shake hands soaked with the blood of Palestinians.

Filthy mining corporation Dalradian is fighting to be able to rip up our stunning Sperrin Mountains, pollute our waters, and damage our health - so they can get rich by mining for gold. After 50,000 written objections, over a decade of tireless campaigning and numerous legal interventions, Save Our Sperrins have taken their fight to a landmark public inquiry that will decide if the mine will go ahead. As Save Our Sperrins says: “The inquiry is a rare opportunity for all of us to come together and have our voices heard. Together, we can stand for what truly matters.” They’ve been fighting for years, and now we stand with them. No toxic mining in Sperrins!

We demand that Stormont listens to victims and survivors, reform the law courts, overhaul policing, and reform our sex education curriculum. More than anything, Stormont needs to stop the platitudes and ensure women victims and survivors are not reduced to begging for help, but are believed, represented and resourced. We have one simple message for the NI Executive: we need action, not empty promises to keep women here safe.

This is blatant discrimination as blockers can still be issued to under 18s for other non gender dysphoria related reasons.

"The People's Housing Bill" aims to alleviate the devastating housing crisis being felt in communities throughout the North, and is being brought forward by Gerry Carroll MLA. The supply of social homes is at an all-time low while rents are at an all-time high. 48,366 households are on the housing waiting list - this amounts to around 90,000 people. 36,741 of those households are in “housing stress", dealing with issues like damp and mould, overcrowding and facing homelessness. The bill proposes to:  • cut and cap rents • ban no-fault evictions • move to open-ended, more secure tenancies • increase housing supply by turning empty houses into homes • establish a Rental Board to protect renters’ rights, hold landlords to account and ensure minimum housing standards.

This year - 2024 - marked 26 years since the signing of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement - which ended the conflict in Northern Ireland which took over 3720 lives, and injured 47,541 people.  Most of the deaths were of civilian people. Despite people here voting overwhelmingly for peace, illegal loyalist paramilitary groups remain present and active in many communities, causing misery and harm to people and preying on those impacted by economic hardship. It is widely acknowledged that elements of loyalist paramilitaries were involved in the racist riots that swept Belfast in August this year. This can no longer stand. We call on the NI Executive to do all in it's power to ensure that the commitment set out in New Decade, New Approach to ending the harm done by paramilitarism is acted on with urgency.  We reject the suggestion made by Gordon Lyons that those seeking to call the DUP to account for their meetings with the Loyalist Communities Council are displaying 'faux outrage'.  We are not the problem.  Seeking to normalise paramilitary groups having influence over our elected politicians is.

Stand with Victims: A Call for Justice and Voice in Northern Ireland My name is Liz. In 1988, my sister was raped and murdered by our uncle. Two years later, my mother, devastated by the loss, took her own life, leaving behind four children. I’m not just angry because he took my sister; he took my mother too. Despite his past actions - breaking bail conditions, violating his license, and going on the run - he is now in an open prison where he has free rein, and it's in the area where I live. For years, I’ve lived in fear for my own life, my children’s lives, and the safety of others. I had to leave my home when he was on the run, and I remember working as a care worker when the brakes on my car failed, thinking he had found me. This trauma is something no one should live with, yet victims like me have no voice in the parole process. I have been fighting for justice and have been working behind the scenes to have a chance to speak directly to the Parole Commission. Although victims can request the opportunity to attend a Parole Board hearing and read their statement, this is not common practice in Northern Ireland. All victims should be given the right to have their experience presented at parole board hearings. This needs to change. This change is important. I’m not seeking closure, but justice for my sister and mother. Through my story, I hope others in similar situations know they’re not alone and that there are people who want to help them fight for justice. Join us in calling for the Parole Reform in Northern Ireland. Victims deserve the right to present their impact statements in person, to have their voices heard, and to restore a sense of agency in the process. Sign the petition today, and help us ensure that the victims are given the dignity and respect they deserve.

Post office branches in Belfast, Derry, Bangor and Newtownards could be at risk at closure. It would mean vital community hubs being lost, and 1,000s of jobs alongside it. Post offices can play a hugely important role - where they can be used to withdraw cash, to return online orders, and offer services like passport applications. Will you add your name to the petition and call on those in charge to make the right decision, and keep our Post Offices open?

Invest NI has given £19.66 million pounds of public money to three companies based in Crumlin, Newtownabbey, Dunmurry and Castledawson that make parts for F-35 war planes - the very ones which are raining bombs down on Gaza. Crumlin and Newtownabbey based company RLC Group, and Dunmurry based company RFD Beaufort Limited are named by Campaigns Against the Arms Trade as manufacturers of parts for the F-35 fighter jets. According to their website, Moyola Precision Engineering manufacture "airframe parts for F35" and received £5.67 million of taxpayers money from Invest NI with some of that allocated in 2023/2024.  And what’s more, the UK arms industry produces 15% of every one of those jets that are made, including the 39 being used by Israel’s to bomb Gaza. There’s a real chance that our money has been used to support companies involved in aiding Israel. But here’s the thing - we don’t know for sure. Because, despite Freedom of Information requests and journalists asking questions for us - Invest NI won’t tell us if those companies are supplying Israel. Economy Minister Conor Murphy, who is in charge of Invest NI, needs to come clean, and reveal if our money is being given to companies aiding the slaughter in Gaza.

Our Act Now community has had some big wins this year, from restoring funding to the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice, ending Kingspan’s sponsorship of Ulster Rugby and protecting our precious Lough Neagh. We're a tiny team, but with all of us on board as well as our new tech tools, we can do so much more! So, are you in?

We elect our councillors to act on our behalf and made good decisions about how money is spent. But too often, decisions are taken in private without public or press scrutiny - such as the decision by Fermanagh and Omagh council to award themselves more free meals, and the decision at Belfast City Council in January this year to cut  funding for Solas that supports children with complex needs in favour of what many criticised as Sinn Féin and DUP community “pet projects.”  We deserve to know what decisions are being made in our name in order to build public trust in our political representatives.