ICTU General Secretary Patricia King spoke on RTÉ’s News at One yesterday, discussing Congress’ support of the Deputy CMO in "his urging of everyone who can work from home to do so". Ms. King also discussed the high levels of transmission and hospitalisation, the full return to offices and the unremitting strain on our health workers.

Bernard Harbor is also due to speak on the Pat Kenny show on Newstalk just after 10am today on remote working, and you can tune in here.

The Irish National Teachers Organisation has called for measures that were removed from primary schools last month – including testing, public health risk assessments and contact tracing – to be reinstated. It comes after a primary school in Co Wexford has closed until after mid-term break after more than 30 cases of Covid-19 were detected at the school.

Meanwhile, SIPTU members employed by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) have expressed deep dissatisfaction with the continued refusal of the organisation to engage with the union in order to resolve a number of industrial relations issues. More on that here. 

Elsewhere, New Zealand has recorded its highest number of daily coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic as a Delta-variant outbreak that dashed the nation's Covid Zero hopes showed no signs of easing. And Latvia has announced a rigid Covid-19 lockdown from 21 October until 15 November to try to slow a spike in infections in one of the least vaccinated European Union countries.

The Indo has this piece on the only real solution to the staffing ‘crisis’: paying out decent wages.

And Ivana Bacik has this op-ed in the Times on why Covid could be the moment to embrace concept of collective rights.

Finally, on this day in 2011 British rock band Coldplay released its fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto, with hits such as "Paradise" and "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall", both receiving three Grammy Award nominations. Ten years later, and the songs still haven't lost their magic.