News that pay talks resume this afternoon was reported by Reuters and picked up by multiple regional titles, as well as The Irish Times, RTÉ, the Indo and the Business Post, while the meeting of ICTU's Public Services Committee  - to finalise the wording of industrial relations ballots - is set to proceed on Thursday (11th).

Kevin Callinan opened the week's broadcast coverage of public service pay talks in an interview with Claire Byrne on RTE Radio One yesterday, emphasising the importance of the government's role, as an employer, to improve pay in response to the cumulative gap between pay and inflation. You can listen back to that HERE. 

Elsewhere, more than 150,000 workers in the North look set to take strike action on 18th January, while that ESRI study reveals that just 14 private operators control 40% of nursing home beds, and that the majority of the sector is now controlled by private, for-profit, large nursing home operators. The study warns that older people living in rural Ireland will face a shortage of nursing home beds.

Meanwhile, the Business Post reports that a survey by the Compliance Institute, a body representing compliance professionals in Ireland, has suggested a rush of RTÉ-style scandals have yet to be unearthed in both private and state-run entities due to poor governance.

Finally, Bernie Sanders writes in the Irish Times that, in this year's US presidential election, "nothing less than the future of our democracy is at stake."

Zen

A hearty recommendation to check your local cinema listings and go see Anatomy of a Fall if you get the chance. An intriguing and beautiful film.

Niall