The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) has issued an FAQ document to provide Human Resources (HR) guidance in the Civil and Public Service in relation to leave associated with COVID-19. Read the full document here.

The Health Service Executive's National Director of Acute Operations has said that more than 60 staff at Cork University Hospital have been asked to self isolate following the identification of a case of community transmission of Covid-19 at the hospital. Liam Woods said CUH has taken steps overnight including visitor restriction and curtailment of some elective procedures and outpatient services. He said the hospital will have to adjust services and there will be a redeployment of staff.

Elsewhere, a cabinet subcommittee will consider income support for people who have to self-isolate because of the coronavirus outbreak. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will chair a meeting on the matter next Monday. This follows representations from trade unions and employers in recent days.

General Secretary Patricia King has said that "women's participation in public life is entirely necessary to advance gender equality, and she noted "that women in public life are increasingly subjected to harassment", during her address to the ICTU Women's Conference in Wexford yesterday. The conference is running on the theme of 'Realising Our Rights - Women Organising for Change'. Read the full report to the Women’s Conference here.

RTE reports that nearly 90% of the world's population - of every gender - holds some prejudice against women, that is according to a UN study published today ahead of International Women's Day. The United Nations Development Programme studied 75 countries representing 80% of the world's population and found that nine in ten people - including women - hold such beliefs. Read more about that here. Meanwhile, The Times has this piece examining the gender pay gap.

Unite have called for the Labour Court to intervene in the industrial action at University Hospital Waterford. The strike by cleaners has entered its tenth day. 

An Post is considering the closure of some of its suburban delivery offices in Cork as part of a major reconfiguration of operations which includes the closure of its large mails centre in Little Island within weeks. The company confirmed that the CMC will close at the end of this month. A spokes person said that “no decision will be taken without the involvement and co-operation of our trade unions and in the best interest of customers and staff”.

AIB has said it plans to cut its workforce to below 8,000 by 2022, a sharper reduction than it had previously flagged, as part of a new strategy announced by the bank today. The bank had a workforce of about 9,520 at the end of 2019 and it said today it is aiming to make the cuts through negotiated voluntary severance.

The Times has this opinion piece on Ireland’s dysfunctional land market. 

Staff at Oracle Ireland have been told the company is cutting as many as 1,300 jobs across Europe, with Dublin among the locations affected. The technology company employs more than 1,400 people in the capital, with Amsterdam and Malaga also likely to be affected by the job cuts. 

And finally, some desperately needed zen. Meet Porkie. He’s a Dogs Trust doggo, enthusiastically learning some basic commands

Enjoy the weekend folks.