The Cabinet has agreed to amend the Retirement Bill that will in the future allow almost all public sector workers stay in their jobs until age 70. Another amendment to the Bill will allow teachers stay beyond 70 if they come of age during the school year in order to reduce disruption to classes.

Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) both voted against Government proposals, increasing the chance of industrial action in the coming weeks. The INMO maintained direct talks with the Government on pay were now needed to avoid a serious industrial dispute. While the PNA called for “realistic proposals” to be tabled to address the nurse recruitment and retention crisis.

Good news for Cork where 400 jobs are to be created over the next six months by technology outsourcing specialist Voxpro.

The cost of establishing and operating the proposed new tribunal for dealing with the cases of women affected by the cervical screening controversy will be “significant”, Minister for Health Simon Harris has warned. Meanwhile, The HSE has blamed the CervicalCheck scandal for contributing to a drop off in thousands of people agreeing to take part in bowel cancer screening.

EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is open to extending Britain’s Brexit transition period by another year, according to reports. Mr Barnier has said he is open to the possibility of a one-year extension to Britain’s Brexit transition in return for British prime minister Theresa May accepting a “two-tier” backstop to avoid a border in Northern Ireland, according to EU diplomats.

And finally, Belfast author Anna Burns won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for fiction last night with 'Milkman', a vibrant, violent story about men, women, conflict and power set during Northern Ireland's years of Catholic-Protestant violence. Today's Zen is an excerpt from the audio book (just click the 'listen' button underneath the front cover's picture on the left.)