Fórsa's Éamonn Donnelly addressed the Oireachtas Health Committee yesterday on the issue of workforce planning in the sector. Details of his statement can be read here. In other health related news, it's been reported that the cost of the deal which ended the nurses’ strike last February is now more than more than three times the original estimate put forward by the Government at the time.

Massive nationwide transport strikes are currently underway in France against government plans to overhaul the state pension system. The action will disrupt train, bus and airline services, with a number of flights due to leave from Ireland being cancelled. Also in aviation, Stobart Air, the operator of the Aer Lingus Regional service, recorded a €3.8m profit in its last financial year with revenue climbing from €144.6m to €162.8m.

Elsewhere, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland is facing a bill of almost €280,000 in compensation to the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland over allegations that it had poached about 1,000 members. The ASTI’s loss of membership occurred during its dispute with the Government in 2017 when members lost thousands of euro in frozen pay and loss of payment for supervision duties due to its repudiation of the then Lansdowne Road pay deal.

In other industrial relations news, members of the National Bus and Rail Union voted 93% in favour of taking action in Cork, while notice of industrial action has been withdrawn by workers at the local arm of US package delivery company UPS after an improved pay offer was made on Wednesday at the WRC. 

Meanwhile, the Irish Times reports that Ulster Bank is planning to eliminate 175 manager positions in an effort to cut costs as ultra-low central bank rates and Brexit uncertainty weigh on the banking sector.

ICTU released a statement yesterday condemning the housing crisis as the latest figures reveal over 10,500 people continue to live in emergency accommodation with almost 4,000 children included in that number. Focus Ireland has called on the four new TDs entering the Dáil to commit to calling on Government to put in place a specific family homelessness strategy and to set a cast-iron deadline which would mean no family or individual would be homeless for more than six months.

And finally, your Zen today marks 46 years since Paul McCartney & Wings released their album "Band on the Run" in the US. The 1973 record went on to become the top-selling studio album of 1974 in the UK and Australia, making it McCartney's most successful and most celebrated album of his post-Beatles works.