In other news, RTÉ is set to wind down its in-house television documentary unit, while the Irish Times reports that the HSE is examining salaries in all voluntary hospitals around the State after it emerged a Limerick hospital has been paying its chief executive a higher salary than her pay band stipulates, and DPER has finally fixed that typo.

Elsewhere, the underlying exchequer deficit has more than doubled for the first 10 months of 2025, the housing crisis is likely to persist for at least another 15 years, and youth unemployment is up at 13.4% from 10.9% a year earlier.

The Irish Times view on the long term economic forecast calls for a mitigation of economic risks by "investing in the green transition and measures to address climate damage, building infrastructure effectively and ensuring much better value in key public services, notably health."

It's been a good week for the Democratic Party. Jack Sheehan writes that Zohran Mamdani's election to Mayor of New York has "lifted New Yorkers out of their pessimistic and reactionary funk." He's the first candidate since 1969 to win over a million New Yorkers, in a high turnout election, and his campaign message resonated with all types of voters, and included its focus on those who voted for Trump, or didn't vote at all, in last year's presidential election.

Your Zen this morning is about Billie Eilish. She's right about the billionaires.

Have a great day. 

NS