The Cabinet will this morning discuss plans to broaden access to support payments for firms whose business has been damaged by public health measures but remain open. Ministers will discuss changes to the Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS) among other issues in today’s meeting, which is scheduled to be the final one of the year.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) will meet with the HSE today to discuss ways to work with the increased transmissibility of the new variant. The INMO has also echoed a call from “exhausted nurses facing a second Covid Christmas” for all staff to be urgently issued with high-level protective masks to beat the threat posed by the new Omicron variant.

Ireland is now second in the EU for the number of booster jabs administered. And Europe’s medicines watchdog has approved a Covid jab by US-based Novavax. 

On Brexit, fresh analysis by the Economic and Social Research Institute and the Department of Finance finds that while Brexit has driven a sharp decline in trade between Ireland and Britain this year, the drop has been largely offset by an increase in cross-border trade.

In other news, Typetec will be the first Irish IT services company to introduce a four-day working week for all its employees from the start of February next year.

A new survey shows that 56% of Irish working-age adults say they will in future only consider jobs that offer flexible working, or allow them to quit the office forever. The latest monthly Job Search Survey from Indeed also shows that 18% of respondents said in future they would only apply for jobs allowing remote working.

For the second year in a row, members of the public will not be admitted to Newgrange to view the Winter Solstice sunrise as the chamber remains closed due to Covid-19.

And in case you missed it, Fórsa made its annual toy donation from the union staff to our neighbours at Temple street Hospital yesterday. 

Finally, Journalist and writer Amy O’Connor has curated this list of some touching, lovely & silly clips that Twitter had to offer this year. A little cheer up scroll to set the mood as we kick off holiday season. 

Happy Christmas everyone!