The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath has said he hopes further engagement between his officials and public service unions will lead to a pay agreement by the end of this month.

Eoin Ronayne has stepped down from his position as Fórsa deputy general secretary to take up a new role working on targeted organisational projects for the union while providing support to general secretary Kevin Callinan in his role as ICTU president.

Fórsa has broadly welcomed a new national strategy on domestic, gender and sexual based violence as a step in the right direction. The union has also called on the Government to introduce statutory paid leave for victims of domestic violence.

The spread of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not expected to lead to net job losses. But it will mean that certain jobs will disappear, to be replaced with new employment opportunities over time.