Fórsa yesterday released a statement welcoming minister Josepha Madigan’s support for a review of minimum qualifications for special needs assistants (SNAs), and for accrediting the UCD national SNA training programme, following the Oireachtas Committee hearing on the same. You can go through the coverage and reactions to the hearing through this tag. This was picked up by RTÉ, Examiner and the Times.

A separate report by the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) has found that the Department of Education was failing children with Special Educational Needs regarding the provision of suitable school places. The recommendations include advising the Department of Education to prioritise publishing a plan to ensure there are enough school places in the short to medium-term to meet the forecast needs of children with special needs in their local communities, as well as mandating schools to build or re-purpose appropriate existing accommodation to meet the needs of children with special needs.

The Indo reports this morning that less than a third of HSE workers have received the pandemic bonus worth up to €1,000 that was announced by the Government in January. 

Elsewhere, childcare providers and parents will stage a protest outside Leinster House today to highlight issues with funding for the sector. They say that new core funding proposals for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) providers and day care services are threatening to close hundreds of local services. The Federation of Early Childhood Providers (FECP) has said that a planned fee freeze for childcare set to come into effect in September is “unworkable”.

Meanwhile, the number of employees working with the HSE who earn in excess of €500,000 per annum doubled last year, while the top earner in the health service is being paid between €750,000 and €760,000 per annum.

And Ireland now tops the table along with notoriously pricey Denmark as the most expensive country in the EU for everyday expenses, leading experts to call for a Minister for Consumer Affairs. A report released by the European Commission's data analysis wing Eurostat revealed that prices in both Ireland and Denmark were 40% higher than the EU average in 2021. 

In other news to round up, a fisherman on the Mekong river in Cambodia has hooked the biggest freshwater fish ever recorded, scientists said - a 300-kilogramme stingray.

Zen

David Bowie released the single 'Life On Mars' on this day in '71, which peaked at No.3 on the charts. The track which was first released in the album Hunky Dory, features guest piano work by Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman. The line "Look at those cavemen go" is a reference to the song "Alley Oop," a one-off hit in 1960 for American doo-wop band The Hollywood Argyles.