The Irish Examiner ran a story from Fórsa's health and welfare conference on Saturday, reporting that the health minister Stephen Donnelly backs Fórsa's call for audit of HSE spend on external experts.

Health correspondent Niamh Griffin also had this piece on the pay gap between workers in the community and voluntary sector and other parts of the health service.

Elsewhere, The Irish Times published a focus on three of our member delegates working in the community and voluntary sector, while the same paper reported that Minister of State for Health Anne Rabbitte said on Friday that "a pay deal that enables voluntary and charitable organisations to deliver services on behalf of the HSE is “vital” if the issues of recruitment and retention are to be addressed." The parties will return to the WRC on 12th June.

Pilita Clarke has an interesting piece in the Irish Times in which she says we get a lot of things wrong about ageing and work, and that there's no consistent evidence that older workers are any less productive than their younger counterparts.

Meanwhile, private vehicles will not be allowed to drive through Dublin's College Green from this morning, and the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has issued an appeal for people to donate blood, as it grapples with a shortfall in supplies.

Zen

I watched Jools on Saturday night for the first time in ages and really enjoyed this tune by The Waeve, a collaboration between Blur's Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall. 

Have a good week.