The Government yesterday announced plans to replace the current minimum wage of €10.50 per hour with a new 'living wage' which will be phased in over four years starting next year. In a statement, Congress responded that it would like to see the new living wage rate applied to all workers, including young workers, who do the same jobs, pay the same taxes, and have similar food and rent costs.

Elsewhere, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has branded the UK’s Bill to unilaterally change the Northern Ireland Protocol  a “fundamental breach of trust” and labelled it “not well thought out”, while the European Commission will today launch new legal actions against Britain in response to the introduction of the Bill.

The Government has joined the Microsoft Government Security Programme (GSP), which it said will assist in the defence of critical national infrastructure against cyberattacks.

Finance Ireland this morning announced it is set to increase the interest rate applied to certain mortgage products from later this month.

Dublin Pride has terminated its media partnership with RTÉ following what it described as “unacceptable and extremely harmful” coverage of trans people on Liveline in recent days. In a statement last night, the group said its ending of the agreement was “effective immediately”.

And in other news, Ireland has been ranked the second-most peaceful country in Europe and third in the world, according to the latest Global Peace Index.

Finally, today’s zen is this extremely heart-warming interaction. Misha, a non-verbal teen with Down’s Syndrome, didn’t understand why his family had to flee Mariupol this year. To placate him, his mother told him they were travelling to meet John Cena. Cena heard and soon went to Amsterdam to oblige.