My brother in Australia sent me a video this morning of two characters from our childhood. You might watch it after you read this, but in the video Dustin calls his old pal Bosco to ask him to vote YES in the Marriage Referendum and it got me thinking about my own family, friends and colleagues. Although you may be aware that I would like you to vote yes, I am not sure if you would be aware of why?

So this is me asking my friends and family to read my reasons as to why I think they should vote YES

• Vote YES to show children and adults of all ages in Ireland that they do not need to carry secrets or unnecessary fears and worries
• Vote YES so that in the future you don’t look back and regret the opportunity you had in 2015 to have a positive impact on the life of your child, niece, nephew, cousin, grandchild or friend
• Vote YES because love has the same value, no matter who you love
• Vote YES to allow everyone to have a place in society (not as less than or more than but equal)
• Vote YES to give everyone the same opportunity to get married to the person they love
• Vote YES and have a positive impact on the lives of thousands
• Vote YES to stop people feeling ‘less then’ as human beings because the sad FACT is that members of the LGBT community in Ireland are 7 times more likely to end their own lives
• Vote YES for every LGBT child growing up in Ireland, for their future
• Vote YES and give every citizen of this country equal rights
• Vote YES so that Irish people don’t have to leave their own country to declare their love, their faithfulness and their commitment to one another until death do us part, as other Irish people get to do at home in Ireland everyday without question
• Vote YES and show me your support

And remember there was a time when Catholics couldn’t marry Protestants

There was a time when women couldn’t vote

Every generation gets a chance to make a big change and your chance is on May 22nd

Society is only ever a collection of individuals and we are all individuals within that society. 

Date: Wed, 29 April at 6pm (refreshments on arrival). Location: Iontas Building, North Campus, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Kildare Get your free ticket on Eventbrite! https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/teachmeet-tickets-16350388452?aff=eandmyevshre&ref=eandmyevshre A TeachMeet is an organised but informal meeting for teachers to share good practice, practical innovations and personal insights in teaching. This meet has a selection of primary, post primary, 3rd level, as well as guests from other sectors in the field of education. This meet will include: Micro-presentations – lasting 5 minutes Nano-presentations – lasting 3 minutes Soapboxes – lasting 10 minutes Random selection of speakers – from a pool of willing participants Back channel to let non-participants participate

Some speakers include:

Primary / Secondary / 3rd Level Speakers

Enda Donlon, Sé McCarthy, Mags Amond, Conor Galvin, Ciara Brenann, Richard Millwood, Dughal McCormick, Susan Nic Reamoinn, Leanne Lynch, Sarah-Jane Carey, Nigel Lane and many more…….

Use the free Tarsia software from mmlsoft.com to create puzzles. A tool that can be integrated across the curriculum: language development, geography, maths, etc.

Create Tarsia’s using the software

Let the students create them as a form of assessment