Our own Ashley Connolly was quoted in the Irish Times' continuing coverage of the delays in HSE payroll. The delays have created huge uncertainty about whether payments due under the Building Momentum review will be paid before the end of the year. Mehak Dugal writes about that in today's Health and Welfare bulletin, and RTE's correspondent is also covering developments.

On the new Policing Bill, our own Jim Mitchell spoke to the Irish Times about the concerns of Fórsa's Garda civilian members, and that's also covered in our Civil Service members' bulletin this morning.

The Lottery regulator has defended the operator's spending of €122m in unclaimed prizes on advertising. Read more on that here.

Unions are preparing for industrial action over staffing problems at Clifden Hospital. Meanwhile, nurses in Northern Ireland have announced a series of pre-Christmas strikes over pay and patient safety concerns.

An NCT worker has criticised the pressure he and his colleagues are under nationwide, saying that workers are “flat out” due to a severe backlog in appointments.

The Government is targeting over 20,000 holiday homes under the lates drive to find accomodation for Ukranian refugees. the recognition for those supplying homes will also double to 800 a month,

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Dublin Airport have shared a heartwarming video of Irish soldiers returning home to their families for Christmas. The soldiers were returning from a six-month deployment to Lebanon, as the 20th Infantry Battalion, United Nations Interim Force Lebanon (UNIFIL). It is the first homecoming that families have been able to attend since the beginning of the pandemic. You can watch the video by clicking HERE.