The weekend papers were quiet on the public service/new entrants pay issue, though much bigger stories dominated the news and opinion pages. It gets a mention in this column by Cliff Taylor in Saturday's Irish Times.

Looking at the bigger picture, Chris Johns sounds a pessimistic note on the EU economy in the Irish Times. Elsewhere, the CE supervisors pension issue was reported in the Sunday Times, while in the same paper the IAA is in hot water over a payment to its former chief executive.

Tony Mitchell RIP

On Saturday morning, mourners at the packed parish church in Kilcoole, County Wicklow, marked the passing of our friend and colleague Tony Mitchell. Tony received a guard of honour from a large number of his Fórsa colleagues from the Dublin Care Services branch.

His warmth, humour and generosity of spirit shone through as we celebrated his life, with music by the male voice choir of which Tony was a member.

I overheard one of my colleagues remark that Tony was "one of the good guys". Anyone who had the good fortune to have spent even a little time in his company will know this to be true. He will be truly missed.

Ar dheis Dé do raibh a anam

Zen

Your moment oz Zen comes, initially, in the form of a quiz (see the survey on the front page). Can you identify the city in which the picture above was taken? (This was a challenge I failed at a table quiz last Friday).

Speaking of quizzes, don't forget this Thursday (3rd May) sees the Great Fórsa Quiz taking place at Nerney's Court.

Your bonus Zen comes this morning prompted by news at the weekend that Sweden's beloved foursome are making music again. What were the chances? This is a song that could've provided the soundtrack for those historic summit talks between North and South Korea...