Fórsa's welcome of the initiative for mandatory placement training in special education classes for student teachers was picked up by The Journal, while talks between unions and the HSE yesterday were short. The WRC has invited the parties to attend talks on Thursday. Fórsa's Health & Welfare DEC will meet this morning to discuss.

New legislation, expected to be approved by the Government today, will mean that workers who must retire at 65 under their employment contracts will have the right to remain in work for a further year.

Peter McGuire has a piece in today's Irish Times about how the number of pupils chronically absent from school has doubled, profiling the work of the School Completion Programme (SCP).

"U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling." You may have heard about how journalist Jeffrey Goldberg found himself in receipt of confidential military plans in a MAGA group chat. The US administration is now so far beyond satire that if it wasn't so scary it would be hilarious.

Zen 

Your Zen moment this morning is a glimpse (pictured) of Blaise Smith and Myles O'Reilly's current exhibition at Kilkenny's excellent Butler Gallery. I paid a visit last weekend and the combination of music and images in this meditative artwork is a real joy. Click on the image to learn more, the exhibition runs to 27th April. 

Small piece of trivia about the artist Blaise Smith, he plays a cameo role in The Commitments, as the guy who rents out the snooker hall to Jimmy Rabbitte jnr. If it ever comes up in a pub quiz, remember you heard it here first.

Have a lovely day. 

Niall Shanahan