The HSE has been urged to give an immediate update on the status of the Government’s promised pandemic recognition bonus “out of respect” to staff still dealing with Covid. In a letter yesterday, health unions said there had been a commitment to issue the payments by the end of March.

A Dublin college has been ordered to end a “bizarre and unlawful scheme” of deducting employee wages to purportedly fund their annual leave entitlements. In a written decision, the Workplace Relations Commission awarded a part-time lecturer at Independent College Dublin €10,000 after finding the school’s stated policy of deducting 8 per cent of pay to fund annual leave payments was was unlawful.

Proposed industrial action by fire fighters in Cork city has been suspended following Cork City Council's appeal to the Workplace Relations Commission to intervene in an ongoing dispute. Last month, firefighters voted for industrial action over concerns about staffing numbers and a lack of resources following the 2019 city boundary extension and the closure of Ballincollig Fire Station.

The Government has cut its forecast for growth in the economy by 2.25 percentage points to 4.25% as a result of higher inflation and the negative impact of the war in Ukraine. At Budget time, Modified Domestic Demand had been forecast to grow this year by 6.5%. However, under an alternative scenario where oil and gas prices go even higher, inflation would peak at 9.25% in the third quarter and average at 8.25% for the year as a whole. Initially, Inflation had been forecast at Budget time to average 2.2% this year. The latest forecasts are contained in the Stability Programme Update (SPU), published yesterday afternoon.

In other news, Detectives are due to resume questioning a suspect in connection with two murders in Sligo later today. The man - who is in his early 20s - is being held at Sligo Garda Station, and is being detained in relation to the murders of Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee, whose bodies were found at separate locations in the town on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

A new support pathway for patients with headaches or migraines is to be rolled out across ten sites nationally, following a successful pilot that reduced the number of repeat visits patients had to make to hospitals.

Congress, along with the Government, Ibec, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and the CIF will collectively mark Workers’ Memorial Day Ireland on April 28th at the national and annual commemorative event to remember people killed, injured, made ill and bereaved through work-related accidents. Congress President Kevin Callinan will be joined by Sharon McGuinness, CEO of the Health & Safety Authority, and Minister Damien English TD who will lay a wreath on behalf of the state to remember those workers we have lost. Find out more about the event to mark this important occasion here.

Zen

American artist Peter Frederiksen grew up on Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, which he now uses to make embroideries ‘because they’re instantly familiar, but for that same reason they can be made unexpected.’ His work is surprisingly abstract and unsettling.

‘My main themes revolve around fears, uncertainty and expectation. These works deal with things most people experience,’ the artist says and explain his use of cartoons to create some universality. You can go through some of his work here.