SIPTU will today tell TDs and Senators at the Oireachtas Social Protection Committee that the Pension Commission, which has recommended the pension age should rise, used data which “considerably” over-estimated the savings from increasing the pension age. And that increasing the State pension age will “do little to save money” and will not ensure pension “sustainability”. More on that here.

The Times speculates no further Covid restrictions will be imposed by the Government this week, as Ministers and public health officials wait until at least the end of next week before deciding if further measures are required to tackle the fourth wave. 

The Cabinet did not make a decision yet regarding the subsidising of antigen tests to make them more affordable and available for wider use.

There have been calls for clarity around what is causing Covid-19 vaccine booster appointments to have “no-show” rates of up to 50% after numerous people reported difficulties cancelling unneeded appointments. 

Overtime rose by almost 760% for top HSE executives during pandemic, a new report finds. 

Elsewhere, a developer has confirmed its intention to seek planning permission for a €350 million development in the Cork Docklands in the coming weeks. The proposed development includes apartments, office buildings, and a 130-bed rehabilitation hospital.

And a NASA mission to deliberately smash a spacecraft into an asteroid — a test run should humanity ever need to stop a giant space rock from wiping out life on Earth — blasted off from California this morning.

Zen

Comedian Seán Burke has revealed some pretty interesting information about a famous French song called ‘The Lakes of Connemara’ that he learned while on holiday in France.

The song is the work of singer Michel Sardou and it was released all the way back in 1981. Babylon Radio reports that Sardou and his colleague Jacques Revaux wanted to write a song about Scotland but they couldn’t find any information about the country.

However, they were able to get their hands on a tourism brochure about Ireland. And the rest is history.