We learn today that that climate change is accelerating, with carbon dioxide levels increasing, sea levels rising and ice sheets melting faster than ever. Former Irish President Mary Robinson has said fossil fuel industry will not change unless it is forced to do so, as the head honchos gather in New York for the UN climate summit.

The Just Transition (Worker and Community Environmental Rights) Bill 2018 reached its Second Stage reading in the Dáil on Thursday, while the message from An Taoiseach today is that all new revenues raised by new or increased carbon taxes in Ireland will be ringfenced to pay for coping with climate action and helping the poor to deal with higher fuel costs.

Elsewhere, Irish Building Magazine reports that 1,000 Brexit-related Irish public sector jobs have been created and one of today's bigger stories is that the UK travel giant Thomas Cook has collapsed after 178 years of trading.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil has pledged to end the two-tier pay system for hospital consultants appointed since 2012, if it leads the next government, while the stark finding from research by the consultants' representative body (IHCA) is that a doctor is now twice as likely to die by suicide than a member of the general population.

Ten

Zen this morning marks the 10th anniversary of this esteemed publication.

The ‘(IMPACT) Staff News Digest’ as it was then known was first circulated this week in 2009. The Irish Times was reporting ‘Public Service Pay Cuts Must Be On The Table – Harney’.

2009 was a rough year for union members, with public service pay cuts high on the Government’s agenda, austerity budgets, heavy cuts to funding in all sectors, and a daily onslaught of criticism of workers and unions.

The digest was developed to equip staff and officers with the day’s most relevant stories at the start of the working day, so that everyone was kept in the loop. Circulation expanded over the years to include staff and officers of other unions, including the CPSU, PSEU, SIPTU and the AHCPS.

The relentless bad news was hard going for everyone. In a bid to dispel the gloom a little, the moment of Zen was born. I received complaints if Zen wasn’t included, and so it became a daily staple.

Ten years on, the digest and Zen are still here and at your service. Happy anniversary.

To mark the occasion, here’s a tune about settling disputes from the second best theatrical production of the 21st Century so far (according to The Guardian). The Ten Duel Commandments from Hamilton.

Have a good week.

Niall Shanahan