Labour party leader Brendan Howlin made the commitment to keeping the age at which the State pension is paid at 66 if in government after the General Election, at the launch of the party’s manifesto yesterday. Mr. Howlin also said he would be "happy to sit down" with Sinn Féin and discuss working in government as part of an alliance of left-wing parties.

SIPTU members in St Patrick's Mental Health Services in Dublin are to ballot for strike action. Union members in the facility on James's Street say they will begin the process of balloting for strike action tomorrow after a management decision to outsource household and catering services to third party providers without agreement.

In a worsening teacher supply crisis, a survey found that ‘Four in five schools have had no application for an advertised post.’ TUI members in second level schools, colleges/centres of adult and further education and Institutes of Technology/Technological Universities will take strike action next Tuesday, 4th February over the failure to end pay discrimination, which has been described as the greatest cause of the teacher supply crisis.

A team of scientists in Australia says it has successfully developed a lab-grown version of coronavirus, the first to be recreated outside of China, in a breakthrough that could help combat the global spread of the illness.

Workers at Hovis, one of the North’s largest bakeries, have voted to accept a pay rise after management increased their initial offer to avoid all-out strike action.

Ryanair has accepted a collective labour agreement which covers all of its directly employed pilots in Ireland out to 2024. The deal includes a new pay structure and fixed roster.

Finally, RTÉ is set to launch a docuseries that celebrates Irish women and their achievements as it wrapped up nominations from its ‘Who’s Your Heroine?’ Campaign last Autumn that saw schoolchildren nominate women that inspire them. A trailer for the docuseries is available here.

Have a lovely day.