That Irish Times coverage is available here, which also features our friend and colleague Paddy Cole of SIPTU. RTÉ also has the story.

Elsewhere, RTÉ and the Irish Examiner report that one in three workers earn less than a living wage and struggle to make ends meet, according to new research led by University College Dublin. The Working Life on Low Pay Report, drawn from the Working in Ireland Survey 2025 and based on interviews with 3,040 workers, found that over 30% of workers in a full-time job earn less than the real living wage. Despite that stark finding, the Small Firms Association continues to argue that the Budget must not include another increase in the minimum wage.

Worth reading from the weekend is analysis by Keire Murphy, a policy researcher and migration expert, who writes in the Irish Times about how the far right has been able to capitalise on "a disillusionment and disenfranchisement that suggest Irish politics and society have reached an inflection point" and about this More in Common survey finding: "One of the questions asked whether our social and political institutions were worth preserving and improving or if people could not help thinking “just let them all burn”: 41 per cent leaned towards letting them burn."

Elsewhere, in the Business Post, Ibec's Danny McCoy takes issue with linking public sector pay to inflation. 

RTÉ and other news outlets report that Fórsa's local authority members served notice of industrial action as last week drew to a close, with many outlets reporting the news alongside the near-unanimous INTO ballot result.

Also worth reading from Friday's Irish Times is Diarmuid Ferriter's opinion that workers’ demands for a cost-of-living package won’t be easily dismissed, as he accuses Jack Chambers and Micheál Martin of "giving mixed messaging on social partnership."  

Your Zen this morning tips the hat to novelist, playwright and commentator Bonnie Greer, who died last week at the age of 77. She especially endeared herself to Irish audiences with this robust defence at the height of the Brexit madness.

Have a great week.

NS