Exploratory talks between the Government and unions on public sector pay will move to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) today. This engagement is due to be the start of a process that is expected to intensify over the next couple of weeks.

Fórsa yesterday published a statement on the delays in announcing 1,100 extra SNA posts. The expansion in SNA provision was set out in a Circular which only issued last afternoon. The circular also confirms that the ‘frontloading’ allocation model will not be introduced this year. More on that here. The Times and RTÉ both carried Fórsa’s statement in response to the news.

The housing crisis is the one of the “longest and most severe” the country has seen, according to Fr Peter McVerry, who has worked in homelessness services for over 40 years. He was speaking to RTÉ One yesterday as the Raise the Roof campaign announced plans for a series of regional and national public meetings on the housing crisis over the coming weeks. At a launch event in Dublin, the group said it will hold the meetings in a bid to build public support for solutions to the crisis and alternative policies on housing.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has warned that high prices for petrol, oil and gas are likely into the future as he welcomed the latest round of European Union sanctions on Russia.

SIPTU will be balloting staff at Limerick-based fire communications centre over safety concerns. The union said industrial action will be taken if steps are not taken to resolve the safety concerns relating to the operation of a new software system which was installed last October.

The shortage of taxis in Dublin’s city centre at peak times on weekends has left revellers waiting sometimes hours for transport while others were forced to walk long distances to get home at the end of a night out. A National Transport Authority survey this year found that 93% of licensed taxi drivers are now working, but only 29% work Friday and Saturday nights.

Representatives from Dublin Airport’s operator DAA are due to appear before a Dáil committee today to outline plans to address delays faced by passengers. DAA chief executive Dalton Philips will meet with the Oireachtas Transport Committee  to discuss the chaotic scenes at the weekend that resulted in 1,400 people missing their flights.

Ciaran Nugent, an economist with the union backed Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) yesterday published these figures which showed average weekly wages had fallen in real terms for all types of public sector workers over the pandemic.

And in other news, scientists have discovered the ‘biggest plant on Earth’ off Western Australian coast. Genetic testing has determined a single 4,500-year-old seagrass may have spread over 200 sq km of underwater seafloor – about 20,000 football fields.

Pictured below, art technicians, Paul Heary and Valerie Stone finalise pieces from the upcoming exhibition at Hugh Lane Gallery, ‘Eva Gonzalès is what Dublin needs’, opening 1st June - 18th September. The collection aims to present a fresh perspective on women artists and their artistic practice in 19th century Paris and beyond. Check it out if you’ve got time.