Our statement, issued yesterday after the education minister took Dáil questions on the reopening of schools-based special education services, features in the Journal and in this Times report that special schools may be allowed to open on a voluntary basis. In a good round-up of the various positions, Carl O'Brien summarises thus: "Most stakeholders feel the fastest pathway towards reopening special education rests on building confidence among staff over the safety measures and seeing a decline in virus transmission rates in the community."

The Examiner focuses on the Dáil mud-slinging, while the Indo leads on potential parental legal challenges to Fórsa, the INTO and the Government. And INTO general secretary John Boyle has an op-ed in the Times.

There's plenty more for the schools enthusiasts (give me a shout if you want it), including passable editorials in the Times ("sort it out!") and Examiner ("Yeah, sort it out!!"). For today at least, the Indo opts for this more general plea on behalf of a Covid-weary public.

Elsewhere, recruitment company Morgan McKinley predicts that professional salaries will remain flat in 2021, the Central Bank warns of a big dip in housing new-builds, and the UK Fire Brigades Union has been accused by regulators of hampering "potentially life-saving" Covid efforts.

This is my first Digest of the year, which falls a clear seven centuries after the publication of Dante's Divine Comedy. To celebrate, Florence's Ufizzi Gallery has put together an amazing exhibition of Renaissance illustrations of the text. And, if you've 12 minutes and 42 seconds to spare, Overly Sarcastic Productions have this solid summary of the tome's first and most famous book, The Inferno.

Have a hellishly good weekend.

Bernard