Ruth Coppinger

30/08/2026

Over the summer emerged. And I’m reading every post. But there really aren’t enough follows for this vital public service ! So be sure to follow now and keep reposting because the truth is nobody has been cancelled - yet.

29/08/2026

28/08/2026

The government convened the Dáil today for just one hour, farcical during a real and worsening cost of living crisis where 1 in 4 parents are now getting out loans for back to school. We have the highest childcare fees, electricity & gas costs, university fees in the EU and one of the most catastrophic housing crises. The government should never be forgiven for prioritising big tech, data centres and US multi-national companies over the basic needs and rights of ordinary people.

26/08/2026

A planning application (S254W/01/26) has been made for an 18m high telecommunications mast at Huntstown Way on the grass verge beside the footpath. This is a section 254 application which means that members of the public can’t make submissions to Fingal on the application but people can lodge an appeal against the council’s decision to An Coimisiun Pleanála.

https://planning.agileapplications.ie/fingal/application-details/105454

25/08/2026

Singer, songwriter, musician, actor and philanthropist. Dolly Parton invested in millions of books for children. in hospitals, covid vaccination and more. She encountered and defied sexist stereotypes, becoming one of the most successful songwriters and performers. RIP Dolly Parton

25/08/2026

The urgently needed N8 bus from Blanchardstown to Clongriffin (stopping at Dublin airport) has been delayed for ANOTHER year until 2027 after first being proposed in 2024. Workers and people going to the airport for holiday/to collect family members are being forced to endure 1.5-2 hour long journeys for what is an off-peak 15 minute drive. 10-20’000 car journeys could be eliminated by introducing the N8 bus which should be a priority in the context of Ireland predicted to miss its climate targets once again. I communicated local residents’ suggestion that the W4 bus could be extended to the airport until the N8 was rolled out. This debate was almost a year ago and still nothing has changed - Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael insistent on kicking the can down the road when it comes to public transport for Dublin airport.

25/08/2026

The HSE has approved the reimbursement of the drug Skyclarys for people with Friedreich’s ataxia. Well done to all those who told their stories, to the families and all who campaigned to bring this change about.

It’s criminal that drug companies make obscene profits from charging massive prices to health services and individuals for drugs needed for rare diseases. Biogen, the company producing Skyclaria, had record profits. This is a Reuters report of their profitability :
*Revenue rose to $2.48 billion, topping forecasts ​of $2.26 billion.
Sales of multiple sclerosis drugs, including Vumerity, rose marginally to $957.5 million, beating a combined estimate of $891 million.
Rare-disease ​revenue of $557.2 million also topped expectations.“

25/08/2026

Delighted to hear this news about approval of drug for Freidreich’s Ataxia. Well done to all the campaigners who brought this change about, all who told their stories and all families.

The HSE has approved the reimbursement of the drug Skyclarys for people with Friedreich's ataxia.

24/08/2026

Hansfield Educate Together National School has 29 students needing support and some who now may be forced to reduce their school hours because of the NCSE’s refusal to allocate the required number of SNAs. They insist that they know better than principals and school managements about their own needs. With schools returning in the coming week, it will be the most vulnerable students and families who will be bearing the brunt of the government’s persistent under-resourcing and under-funding of education.

24/08/2026

Women went ‘missing’, ‘disappeared’ or ‘vanished’ in Ireland in the 1990s. And for some bizarre reason, we all just accepted that Gardai couldn’t open up murder investigations into their disappearances for decades! This meant that evidence went cold, investigations weren’t rigorously done. How bizarre that families have to beg for 30 years for Gardai to classify their missing children as murdered, many parents tragically dying before this happened.

We saw recently how Tina Satchwell was murdered by her husband and buried underneath her own stairs for years while Garda bought the fairytale that she had run away.

Femicide was not recognised then by the general public like it is now. Ireland’s ‘missing women’ need now to be thoroughly investigated- never again should there be this lag of decades before treating these as murder cases. My heart breaks for the families of all the women who were killed and who still await their remains being found and justice being done.

I was reminded of these women with the killing of yet another woman in Ireland and an Irishwoman abroad. The far right are using violence against women to stir up racism, but women have always been murdered in Ireland. Unfortunately, it seems the Gardai and the state didn’t think they were important enough to merit murder investigations.