Meath County Council is being urged to play a leading role in a campaign aimed at helping victims of sexual harassment and assault in public places to seek help.

The "Ask for Angela" campaign is a proven initiative and a codeword for help designed to help victims of sexual harassment and assault safely seek assistance in public venues.

Aontú Cllr Emer Tóibín spoke to us this morning on The Agenda to tell us more about this.

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ICSA president Sean McNamara has said yesterday's decision by the European Commission to push ahead with the Mercosur trade deal is a direct betrayal of Irish farmers, EU climate commitments, and democratic accountability. “The Commission can dress this up any way they like, but make no mistake - Irish and European beef farmers are being sacrificed so that German carmakers and other industrial sectors can profit.

By confirming it is decoupling the trade aspects of Mercosur, Brussels is forcing the deal through without requiring approval from all 27 national parliaments. Only a qualified majority in the European Council plus European Parliament approval is needed, meaning member state parliaments will have no say at all. This deliberate circumvention of democracy is unacceptable,” he said.

Sean joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

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Uisce Éireann is encouraging customers to sign up for its free text alert service as it ramps up investment in Ireland’s water infrastructure to unprecedented levels. 

Planned capital investment of over €10 billion over the next five years in areas such as leakage reductions, repairs to bursts and outages, and treatment plant upgrades will see hundreds of live projects underway in every corner of Ireland. 

Geoffrey Burke, Head of Customer Operations at Uisce Eireann, spoke to us this morning on The Agenda this morning to tell us more.

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The Presidential election is likely to take place at the end of October, with the necessary legislation to put the vote into motion set to be signed this week.

It’s understood there’s a memo going to cabinet tomorrow on the matter and indicates that Friday 24 October as the date of the election.

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage James Browne will also sign the presidential order covering when the election will take place.

Political Correspondent Sean Defoe joined us on The Agenda this morning to tell us about everything that is know so far.

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Teenagers who are involved in sports and other extracurricular activities are much less likely to use cocaine or ecstasy, a major new Irish study has found.

The findings show teenagers were about 50pc more likely to use cocaine and 54pc more likely to use ecstasy if they weren’t regularly involved in sport.

Research into the lifestyles of more than 5,000 Irish adolescents, aged 15 and 16, found 3.4pc of teenagers had used cocaine, while nearly 3pc had tried ecstasy.

“That’s the equivalent of one student in every class having used these by age 15 or 16. That’s a very high prevalence, and much higher than European norms,” said Dr Peter Barrett, one of the authors and a consultant in public health medicine in UCC.

Dr Barrett joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

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Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú has called for “a get-tough approach” to those who are caught doing excessive speeds on rural roads, as garda speed vans collect over €32 million euros nationally in 30 months.

The MEP has called for a “greater concentration” of speed vans at accident black spots and on rural roads where speeding is “dramatically impacting on road safety”.

A total of €1.6 million has been collected in fines from garda speed vans located in Louth and Meath over the last 30 months.

Cynthia Ní Mhurchú joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

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Lord Mayor of Dublin Ray McAdam has met the assistant Garda Commissioner for the Dublin region following the use of the national flag by anti-immigration campaigners in the city.

Tricolours have been erected without permission on lamp-posts and other public infrastructure in several areas of the city.

Residents in some areas have written to the council asking them to remove the unauthorised flags which they say have been erected by a “minority political grouping” which could “undermine people’s respect for the flag as a symbol of national unity”.

Several councillors have also objected to the unauthorised erection of the tricolour with Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty describing it as the “weaponisation” of the national flag in a malicious attempt to intimidate.

But is this racism or patriotism?

We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Aontu leader and Meath-West TD Peadar Toibin to get his thoughts on this.

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Students and children using Leap cards on trains out of Drogheda will see a dramatic reduction in their fares after an anomaly in new fare structures was finally addressed, according to Louth Labour TD, Ged Nash.

The Louth Labour TD said: “The worst affected cohort of commuters were students and children using leap cards on rail travel to and from Drogheda who, in some cases, saw more than an 80% increase in their fares.

The NTA wrote to Deputy Nash over the weekend and Deputy Nash joined us on The Agenda this morning to give us the latest on this

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“Until I see a wastewater treatment plant that's fit for purpose, I will not be zoning any land south of Dundalk”, Councillor Shane McGuinness has said in response to a call from Minister for Housing James Browne to local authorities to zone more land for housing.

The Dundalk South councillor has called out Louth TDs and Senators based in the county for not doing more to resolve the wastewater treatment issue in Blackrock.

It follows a protest in Blackrock last Saturday morning organised by concerned parents, who believe untreated sewage is appearing on the beach and that the water in the sea at Blackrock is polluted. 

According to Cllr McGuinness, around 500 people attended the protest, on what was a very wet day.

Councillor McGuinness joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us in more detail about this.

We also discussed his calls for no more high density housing in parts of Dundalk South

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Fears of a ‘quiet epidemic’ of young people addicted to nicotine have been raised by Dundalk councillor Ciaran Fisher, who says upcoming legislation on vaping ‘doesn’t go far enough.’

The new ‘Nicotine Inhaling Products Bill' is set to come into force early next year, which will feature a raft of restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes, or vapes, as they are more commonly known.

The new laws are aimed at reducing the appeal of vaping products to young people, and will impose significant restrictions on flavours, such as fruity and bubblegum versions.

The bill will limit the concentration of nicotine allowed in a cartridge and see warning labels featured on vapes, while also prohibiting single-use disposable vapes.

Councillor Fisher joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

We were also joined by Eoin O’Boyle, owner of OB Vape in Drogheda, to get his reaction to Councillor Fisher's comments.

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