Driving global news today is the peace treaty signed by the US and Iran, ending a conflict whose repercussions are likely to stay with us for a while.

RTÉ and The Irish Times report on Fórsa's action at Oberstown.

Elsewhere, legislation intended to allow thousands of employees to stay in their jobs for an extra year before retiring is to come into effect on June 29th. The Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Act 2025 will allow employees in companies that have a contractual retirement age that is below the State pension age of 66 to inform their employer they do not consent to retiring.

In related analysis, Margaret Ward writes about women's employment and their visibility beyond the age of 55, and about how, from age 25 to 55, the gap between men and women’s employment rates is around 10 percentage points for every age group, but the gap doubles "to a whopping 20 points" for those over age 55.

There's bad news for the wild swimmers, and anyone who appreciates clean rivers and lakes, as annual data from the Environmental Protection Agency on the quality of Ireland's waters shows no major improvements were achieved in 2025 and that standards are still unsatisfactory in many areas. 

The Irish Examiner reports that a solicitor involved in the withdrawal of criminal legal aid services has described the first day of action as a success, as court business was disrupted across the country following a co-ordinated protest over proposed changes to the fee structure for defence work. 

Your Zen this morning is an informative video explaining what ICE is presented by comedian Michelle Wolf.

Have a great day. 

NS