On the 14th of September I wrote about the excessive salary being advertised for the role of Head of Student Experience at UCC. I wrote to Ministers for Education, Finance and Public Sector Reform asking them if they approved of the excessive salary and if not what action they would take to have the salary adjusted to a more reasonable level. So far I have received automatic replies from Ministers Quinn,and Noonan acknowledging my email but nothing more. Minister Howlin, who did a spectacular u-turn this week on public sector allowances, has replied stating that “Issues relating to pay in the education sector are a matter, in the first instance, for my colleague Mr Ruairi Quinn, TD, Minister for Education and Skills. I have, therefore, transferred your correspondence to Minister Quinn’s Office for direct reply to you.” Clearly Mr Howlin is out of his depth in his own portfolio so lets hope Minister Noonan or Minister Quinn can find time to consider this issue. I will post any updates I receive. Mary

Protection of Retail Workers Bill
In April 2025 Mary introduced the Protection of Retail Workers Act 2025, a Bill aimed at amending the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 to create specific offences for assaulting, threatening, harassing, or abusing retail workers while they are carrying out their employment. Retail workers across Ireland are on the