Good morning colleagues,

Yesterday the Communications Unit published this advice to members about Covid 19 (also available by clicking the advice image above). It covers a range of issues including reporting for work, Fórsa policy on Covid-19 and the workplace, volunteering for urgent tasks, protections for public servants who contract the virus or self-isolate and childcare difficulties.

The document went out yesterday to members in a series of divisional bulletins, and more are in the pipeline. This morning we're looking at specific advice for members in Social Protection and we expect to be updating advice from DPER.

Everything as it becomes available and ready for publication will go up on the Fórsa website so please bookmark our homepage if you haven't done so already. Anything we publish on the website goes up on our social media too, but we always publish on the website first (www.forsa.ie).

It's worth mentioning in this context that it's never been more important to check your sources and make sure you're getting your information from a trusted source. In these understandably anxious times, all manner of false information can spread rapidly on social media, and won't help anybody.

General secretary Kevin Callinan joined IBEC director Danny McCoy on Newstalk's On The Record yesterday to talk about the mutual roles of the public service and private sector employers in the current crisis. Kevin said Fórsa aims to protect jobs and incomes to the greatest extent possible, and said our public service staff and their unions are ready for the challenge. Listen back HERE.

The day's newspapers lead with the closure of the pubs in Ireland and efforts to fly holidaymakers home from Spain. The UK papers report the various stages of slow learning on show from Number 10 Downing Street. The Irish Times leads with news that HSE ramps up testing as Covid-19 shutdown intensifies across Europe.

Finally, it's not easy to drum up some Zen but the only real complaints the digest has ever received tends to be as a result of its rare omission. So here's a couple of items that helped me keep my Zen perspective over the weekend. First, the revelation that we're very high on Paddy Cole's Twitter speed dial (mornin' Paddy), and the second is that balcony scene from Italy. No, not that one, this one.

Stay safe, stay well.

NS