Fórsa has told the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and the HSE that schools should remain closed after next week’s mid-term break, and that significant improvements in health and safety provision needed to take place before schools could re-open. This piece is now up on the website, and was also picked up by the Times, the Sun and the Examiner.

Speaking on Morning Ireland, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) general secretary Kieran Christie also confirmed that secondary teachers would be balloted for industrial action and that they will strike ‘if things deteriorate’ as he expressed concerns over the track and trace system.

Gardaí will be given new powers to fine people who hold house parties or breach travel restrictions under new measures agreed by the Cabinet yesterday. It is understood that fines of €1,000 will be given for the owners of houses, or tenants living in houses where house parties are held, while there will be fines of up to €500 for other breaches of the Covid-19 restrictions which will come into force on Thursday.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation (INMO) is set to raise the issue of “exploitation” of student nurses in the Oireachtas Health Committee today, and also express concern at the increasing number of nurses contracting the virus. It says there are some 50 nurses in the Irish health service per week contracting Covid-19.

The INMO has also warned that under-staffing issues in the health service have been exacerbated by absences due to Covid-19 and that four billion euro earmarked to boost the health service could be “wasted” if proper staffing plans are not implemented. The union also expressed concerns that new bed capacity set out in Budget 2021 must be matched by increased staffing. More on that here.

Thousands of close contacts of positive Covid-19 cases from over a three day period will not be contacted by the HSE because the contact tracing system was over-whelmed by cases last weekend.The HSE has said that it will send a text message on Wednesday to between 2,000 and 2,500 people, who have already been informed by text of their infection, asking them to tell their own close contacts to contact their GPs immediately to seek a Covid-19 test.

And finally, today’s zen marks nearly ten years since this song was released. Ben folds had originally penned this heartfelt song to his son, but it also serves as a fitting reminder of our current times. Have a good one.