In his Irish Times review of the week in business last week, Colin Gleeson transported us back to Bertie Ahern's comments at the ICTU conference in Bundoran in 2007. As there's debate bubbling about whether or not the economy is overheating (not quite but it could boil over), his allusion to the sticky summer of '07 is illustrative.

And while Gleeson's analysis throws a look back to the recent past, Dan O'Brien's analysis in the Sindo is firmly stuck in it, as he resurrects an alarmist sermon on public sector pay growth.

The Sunday Business Post led with a story yesterday that three Government departments authorised surveillance on a number of hospital consultants in an attempt to show doctors had been treating more private patients than they were allowed to. That's picked up in the Mirror and Indo today. The Irish Times reports that talks with a view to reaching a settlement between the Government and hospital consultants, over a series of court cases that could cost the State hundreds of million of euro, are expected to continue this week.

On Saturday Siptu marked the 100th anniversary of Lá na mBan, when 2,500 women members of the Irish Women Workers’ Union marched along with up to 800 members of Cumann na mBan to City Hall in Dublin to protest against the conscription of men into the British Army in the First World War. 

Elsewhere, a major expansion of Ireland’s embassy and consulate network will form part of plans announced today. There's no word yet if it includes plans for an embassy in Cork. The Green Party is championing local government in the Rebel County, though the separatist branding (End Dublin Rule in Cork) is a shade excessive. 

Meanwhile, it's reported that the Government has conceded that any deal on a “backstop” for the Irish Border will not be completed until Britain’s EU withdrawal agreement is finalised in October.

Finally, the weekend did not pass without a sense of loss among the wider Fórsa family. On Friday we learned of the sudden passing of Gerry Gilroy of the Sligo Health branch. Gerry is remembered as a great activist and a true friend to his colleagues in Sligo.

There was sad news on Sunday too, as we heard that Padraig Mulligan's mother, Doris, had passed away. Doris's removal takes place at 7.30pm this evening to the Church of the Holy Rosary, Castlebar. Funeral mass tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11am in Castlebar, followed by burial in High Street Cemetery, Belmont, Ferbane, Co Offaly, to arrive at approximately 2.30pm.

We keep them all in our thoughts today.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anam.