What was secondary school like for you?

Secondary school...

I enjoyed the routine of going to secondary school.

I had 100% attendance.

I was one of the only people in my year group to have it throughout the whole five years.

I loved the structure and routine.

It was difficult as well because...

It sounds like you had a lot of family support around you growing up.

But when you realise it's gone up by 1,000 more children than the previous year, that's very surprising.

Yeah, you know, it's as you said, you kind of took my opener there, thankfully.

So there's 373 children waiting for early years in Limerick.

And that's, you know, in light of 46,000 children nationwide.

So this is a hugely acute problem.

And we're seeing these particular regional childcare deserts also intensifying.

Limerick as well.

But I suppose, what's your take on that? Is it fair to say the government really isn't going far enough and doing enough?

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Alex Richardson, Senior Policy Coordinator at the National Women's Council.

In looking at the roadmap for inclusion, I want to start with the positive.

One of the clearest commitments in the roadmap is the continued focus on reducing poverty among groups who are consistently at risk, such as lone parents.

Lone parents in Ireland are overwhelmingly women, and they face some of the highest poverty rates in the country.

So the fact that the roadmap explicitly recognizes this and continues to prioritize income supports, childcare access, and employment pathways is meaningful.

When the state acknowledges that certain groups are structurally disadvantaged, it matters.

Nice.

Um, so we've been registering vendors and companies and nonprofits and community organizations from all across the city, all, all across all walks of life, since really early April.

Um, so we've been building the parade sequence for some time, and that's really a, a sort of crowd favorite.

So that old favorite's coming back.

Um, but as you mentioned, the festival's gonna look a little bit different this year.

But there is also, as you, as you say, a nod to the past there.

We're returning the Indy Pride Festival to its home in recent years in Military Park downtown.

So when you're ready to elevate your space, head to indygrills.com and connect with our team.