What the papers say: Monday's front pages

Eva Osborne

Here are the stories making headlines this bank holiday Monday.

Talks on a new public-sector pay agreement are expected to get underway “in the coming weeks”, the Government has said, with trade unions expected to push for above-inflation pay increases.

The current agreement expires at the end of June but exploratory talks are expected to begin before that, The Irish Times reports.

The Irish Examiner leads with there being nearly 5,000 fewer roadside breathalyser tests were conducted by gardaí in 2025, despite it being the most devastating year on Irish roads in nearly a decade.

Cork Harbour's proposed €80 million zero emissions passenger ferry service - announced last year amid considerable fanfare - has been placed on indefinite hold, according to The Echo.

There have been no pro­sec­u­tions for ticket tout­ing since legis­la­tion ban­ning the prac­tice was intro­duced five years ago. And a loop­hole means if an event is not lis­ted, the rules do not apply, the Irish Independent reports.

Alex Fer­guson was taken to hos­pital by ambu­lance after fall­ing ill at Old Traf­ford on Sunday, according to the Irish Daily Mirror.

The former Man United manager, 84, was assessed by para­med­ics before the club’s 3-2 win over Liv­er­pool.

The Irish Daily Star leads with Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch coming out swinging as he launched his byelec­tion cam­paign from a box­ing club.

The gang­land fig­ure, 63, whose son Jason was recently arres­ted in Spain on the foot of an extra­di­tion war­rant, returned from Lan­zarote dur­ing the week and lodged his papers to run in the Dub­lin Cent­ral vote later this month.

Owners of derel­ict sites will face ‘swinge­ing fines’ and other legal action under a Gov­ern­ment ‘crack­down’ to speed up new home build­ing, the Irish Daily Mail reports.

Gerry Hutch says his sights are firmly on a Dáil seat – whether it’s via the upcom­ing byelec­tion or the next gen­eral elec­tion -  according to The Herald.