The Irish Times reports today that staff shortages at the Oberstown Children Detention Campus resulted in young people having to stay in their bedrooms for a period to facilitate breaks. That's according to an inspection of the facility carried out last July. The same report found that almost all young people detained in Oberstown felt that staff listened to their views and that their opinions impacted decision-making. 

There's a number of media outlets reporting the aftermath of talks between IALPA and Aer Lingus at the WRC this week. The talks followed IALPA's recent rejection of the pay terms proposed by the Pilot Pay Tribunal. Talks ended, inconclusively, on Tuesday night, with both parties agreeing to refer the issue to the Labour Court.

Subsequent correspondence from Aer Lingus management to staff has provoked a good deal of anger among pilots. The story is reported in the Indo, Irish Times, Business Post and RTÉ.

Elsewhere, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council holds its annual 'Path for the Public Finances' conference today, while there's a warning that up to 85,000 people in Gaza could die in the coming months due to the effects of war and illness, while it's revealed that the Department of Defence has paid at least €8.5 million to Israeli arms manufacturers for military drones and other equipment in the past decade. 

Meanwhile, it's reported that the Gardaí have started replenishing the numbers of a secretive unit tasked with removing protesters from Government buildings and public spaces, and Congress is backing a 'Yes/Yes' vote in the 8th March referendum. 

Zen

Your Zen this morning is an overdue Zen nod to Taylor Swift. Frankly, anyone who upsets the Orange Menace as much as she does deserves applause. This article looks at how bonding over her music has helped many families bridge the generation gap and strengthen their relationship...so here's my favourite Swift tune.

Have a lovely day.

Niall