Councillor Kevin Donoghue (of this parish) will put a motion to Dublin City Council tonight, calling on to DCC management to engage with trade unions on a four-day week pilot programme for Council staff.

The head of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has called for investment in training people, social protection and new forms of green and digital work as EU leaders met for the Social Summit in Porto last Friday. Guy Ryder also urged leaders to back gender equality and social dialogue initiatives.

Front pages include the Irish Times report that a record 84,000 students have applied for college places in the autumn. And there's more here on what it days in today's papers.

As we headed into the weekend Aer Lingus chief Lynne Embleton circulated a message to staff warning that the airline "won't get through Covid without impact on jobs." This report by RTE includes a response from Fórsa, and the union's full statement can be viewed here, which was a response to the extended layoff of cabin crew at Shannon Airport. Fórsa's statement was also picked up by the Clare Echo, The Clare Champion, and Limerick Leader. Last Thursday the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport discussed the challenges facing travel agents and the aviation sector.

Elsewhere, last week's elections across the way proved a very, very, bad day for the Labour Party. In yesterday's Sunday Times Matthew Goodwin asked "What's the pint of the Labour Party?" as a post-mortem rages within the party ranks, and the Tories continue to get away with it. Hartlepool is now the 55th seat that they've nabbed from Labour in the past two years (51 of which voted for Brexit). There was some good news in Wales, Manchester, London and West Yorkshire, though probably not enough to butter any parsnips. This analysis by Andrew Rawnsley in The Guardian is worth a look.

Your Zen this morning comes via regular Zen favourites Sleaford Mods who show that even the most avian audiences appreciate their work. Click on the image above to see more. And if avian Zen is your thing, you'll love this series of domestic audio tests performed by a duckling. Hopefully these birds will get your week off to a good start.

Have a good week. Smell the flowers.

Niall