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THE TAOISEACH HAS admitted that his Government needs to “work harder and better” at providing more supports to transgender teenagers, saying there are many young people in Ireland who are not getting the support they need.
The coalition’s Programme for Government commits to removing the need for 16- to 17-year-olds to have two specialist reports to apply for legal gender recognition.
Instead they would be able to self-declare with parental consent.
Micheál Martin said he wants to see this delivered and also ensure supports are in place for young people.
“We do need to again harness informed opinion on this and expertise in this area but there are many, many young people who need help and support out there at the moment who are not getting the level of support that they need and this is something that concerns me,” he said.
And I think we need to work harder and better at providing a more comprehensive range of supports to young people who need the back-up that they currently aren’t getting.
“We have settled in the Programme for Government for 16-17, I’m open to informed debate on this and the expertise of people who have been involved from a professional perspective and also the views of young people themselves.
I think we should consult young trans people to hear their views, many have endured unacceptable bullying in certain situations.
“We need to inform their peers, the wider community in terms of the issues, greater acceptance and also greater support for young people who are going through challenging times and who definitely need greater supports both from the perspective of psychological support, counselling, help and for other people to be able to understand it better and also provision of services that they require.”
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As long as things are good in Dublin we are all happy with that lads.
The dark and cold of our winters is a major cause of depression. Country suffers from SAD. Roll on spring and hopefully good weather finally next summer.
@mcgoo: I hear that. #highfive
@mcgoo: Up the west and f€€k the rest
@Stan: There are lights designed to counteract this:
@Stan: the dark and cold of our winters also causes people to crash their cars on the M50 way too frequently.. usually at 7.30am and 5pm.
@Stan: You should say that some people suffer unnecessarily from this recent condition (SAD) for once it is appreciated within context of your natural body clock it is possible to adjust to the dark period. Our ancestors naturally slowed down this time of the year just as people slow down in the evening as the daily body clock has its milestones -
https://aholdencirm.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/blog_150112biological-clock-660×422.png
The easiest way to transfer the idea that the body naturally adjusts to a seasonal clock is to look at the polar day/night cycle with its equivalent milestones of sunrise/noon/sunset/ midnight along with its associated polar dawn and twilight even though these pair last continuously for many weeks. It is presently polar twilight at the North pole before descending into polar night in the next few weeks and people at our latitudes feel this as the combination of daily and orbital motions reduce the amount of daylight.
It doesn’t help that Met Eireann try to obscure our natural body clock by insisting midwinter is not December 21st by creating a worthless notion of the meteorological seasons. All the artificial conveniences of heat and light interfere with the natural cycle and many people suffer on this account but with a few adjustments, what they are I don’t know, that suffering can be replaced by allowing the body to do its natural adjustment to an Irish winter.
*https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Biological_clock_human.svg/1200px-Biological_clock_human.svg.png
@Stan: stan, you should see Tromso if you think here is bad…. 6 long months there and missed the best part during the summer… Count yourself lucky a mhac
@Brown Boots: Having worked on Melkoya Island near Hammerfest in the summer it can be just as bad and some of the Irish lads had to take mild sedatives as the natural slowdown in the evening doesn’t happen, mainly because there is no evening. I think younger people can override their body clocks but with age that becomes much harder to do.
@Brown Boots: They get 3 months of 24 daylight in the summer
@Stan: Please don’t speak for everyone as if we are all of one mind. I hate summer and bright weather. I love the long, dark nights with short dull days of autumn & winter. And I know for a fact I’m not alone in this.
@Stan: Couldn’t agree more, just back from a fab week in Tenerife, but don’t know if it’s enough toi minimise the pain of seven or eight months without sun, not that we’ll see much during the Summer either.
Earlier in the week we were told it was going to be very warm and dry.
@Tom Reilly: By Leo’s spin doctors?
How many Irish people manage to be at or see their home in daylight from the end of October to St.Patricks day? Leaving for school and work in pitch dark. We naturally aren’t meant to live in Ireland in the winter. Why did are ancestors move here after the ice age?
@Stan: our ancestors collect enough in the harvest then locked themselves away for the winter (id do the same if i could afford it !!)
@Stan: That’s why Christmas was invented.
@Tom Reilly: Met Eireann website change the forecast every day. To make matters worse they often change the graphic of Ireland every few hours (depending on what they see out the window).
@TellingItAsItIs: weather changes all the time shock
@ed w: No more so than in Met Eireann’s graphics world. Today’s weather forecast can change today in Glasnevin. It’s like someone rushes into their graphics department and screams “Quick, change the graphic, it’s gone very cloudy outside!!”
@Tom Reilly: Hi all, from the Sunshine State. What’s winter?
@Tom Reilly: Exactly, they said it was going to be a gorgeous weekend, they haven’t a bleedin clue.
Are we still getting the 20° you reported for the weekend, if so next week can wait.
Our storms should be called after our own famous artists, freedom fighters, authors, musicians etc!
@Fank Pulman: that storm ophelia was named in america not here
@David Faherty: Yes – after a character in an English play…
@Fank Pulman: a Storm a thousand miles away, named by the Americans after a Danish character in an English play, the sheer indignity of it all wha…
@Fank Pulman: Storm Dana and Bono would be a hurricane I’d say?
@Fank Pulman: Aye Che Guevara storm sounds good, will eventually blow itself out.
@Fank Pulman: ‘bono’, an occasional breeze blowing hot air.
‘McCourt’ a deep depression.
‘de Velara’ an Atlantic storm blowing in from America, that runs out of puff at the Irish sea.
‘Collins’ a mighty tempest that changes everything.
‘Neeson’ a mixed weather front with a particular set of spills.
@David Faherty: Yes , once it crosses the pond we name it Bridie .
@purple rain: or Gorry…
More sensationalistic clickbait driven headlines.
A couple of days ago when the media predicted that this was going to be an unusually warm weekend, tjey neglected to add “but also wet and windy so you can’t enjoy it”.
@Neal Ireland Hello.: hahahaha
Irish weather …we should be use to it
@Stewart O Neill: We should be selling it, to the Arabs.
@Stephen murphy: The thousands homeless and the thousands more at risk of becoming homeless because of no social housing don’t need bad winter. Leo spin team will say we have good weather, judging by the amount of citizens who “choose” to sleep outside aka the homeless. The costly spin team at 5 million euro will also say it is warmer every year since thousands more have chosen to sleep outside compared to the previous year and the year before that again.
Aghh…getting deja vu. Monday is the 16th of October and exactly 30 years after I hope that forecasters have all watched the tape of Michael Fish the night before the incoming storm on 16th October 1987. His reassurance that there was no hurricane coming still rings in my ears after 120mph winds took my house to pieces in Sussex and nearly killed us. It did manage to kill 17 other people though. The whole area looked like it had been nuked. I shall dig a hole and hide in it.
IS THE JOURNAL A GREAT JOURNALISTIC RESOURCE?
Well no, probably not
What colour coded warnings are on the way?
Irish weather tends, with a few exceptions such as recently in Donegal, to be a damp squib. Sadly, that deluge was not properly warned of and caught local residents by surprise.
As I see it, if you get a warning, the weather may be fairly severe but not dangerous.
If you don’t get warnings, then look out.
Boards on the window, mail by the door, why would anybody leave so quickly for? Ophelia. Where have you gone?
I thought the English leaving cert was over ….
oh no rain!!!
well there’s a surprise..
If it’s in the journal nothing to worry about
I know there are a lot of people think this is just another false alarm, but remember no Hurricane has ever been this Far East, with little landmass to take the rain. Won’t be funny on Tuesday when your Mammy can’t get her Miwada or a tin of USA
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