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On Thursday 12th March 2020, the Taoiseach announced a number of significant measures designed to contain the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and lessen the risk of infection in the population, especially to vulnerable groups. These measures have placed significant restrictions on the normal operation of business and society. Many accommodations have had to be made to ensure the operation of critical services during this time, including both front-line health services and other services which support the continued functioning of society and business. Planning authorities have responded through implementation of business continuity plans and are ensuring, insofar as possible, and having regard to public health advice, that necessary provision is made to allow for the appropriate functioning of the planning service. This is an evolving situation, which will be kept under review by the Department through engagement with the City and County Management Association (CCMA), Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), An Bord Pleanála, the Office of the Planning Regulator and other Government Departments. This planning guidance addresses potential uncertainty which has arisen where there is an interaction between the public health measures that have been implemented, and operational restrictions imposed by planning condition, for example where essential retail operators, in an effort to ensure that food and other supplies can be delivered in a safe and timely manner, may be subject to planning conditions that restrict delivery times.

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Cabinet must stick to its decision of last Tuesday to re-open all pubs. Contradictory messaging from Government and NPHET adding enormously to uncertainty and stress facing publicans.

This is a summary report of the series of workshops on FAIR research information in open infrastructures that was jointly organised by the State Scientific and Technical Library of Ukraine (SSTL) and Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology (TIB) which have been collaborating under the framework of Joint German-Ukrainian project supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany and the Ministry of Science and Education of Ukraine. The workshops successfully harnessed the enthusiasm and experience of librarians, researchers, software providers, public funding body representatives, content providers, scientometricians and information specialists in an attempt to shed light and define criteria which assist discovery and reuse of research information by third-parties and make it FAIR. The series of workshops consisted of four separate workshops which addressed single aspects of FAIR– findability, accessibility, interoperability and reuse concerning research information. Due to Covid-19 travel restrictions workshops were held online between September 2020 and January 2021.

The fourth volume of the International Journal of Homiletics opens with an article from South Africa presenting first results of an empirical research on preaching in times of the pandemic. Marileen Steyn, Cas Wepener and Hennie Pieterse, all three from Stellenbosch University, conducted a grounded theory exploration on Preaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Africa analyzing 24 sermons preached on March 22 and March 29 2020- during the time of the South African lockdown. They convincingly show that in an experience of ‘distance’ (to God and the others) sermons primarily try to present a God who is ‘near.’ The authors explore the ‘hinges’ preachers use to help people on the threshold between near and far. They also point to the role liturgy plays together with the words of the sermon and suggest Holy Saturday/Silent Saturday as a metaphor for the homiletical endeavor of preaching in times of crisis. The article is presented in our volume in an English and an Afrikaans version.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a great challenge, especially for families. We aimed to analyze the impact of the pandemic on childcare for and the work–family balance of pediatric surgeons in Germany. An anonymized questionnaire on the working and familial situation before and during the COVID-19 pandemic was sent to the members of the German Society of Pediatric Surgery and trainees in pediatric surgery (April–July 2021). One-hundred-fifty-three participants (59% female) completed the questionnaire. A total of 16% of the males and 62% of the females worked part-time. Most (68%) had underage children. During the COVID-19 pandemic, 36% reported a decrease in patients and interventions, and 55% reported an increase in the organizational workrelated burden. Childcare for underage children during lockdown was organized mainly with the help of institutional emergency childcare (45%), staying home (34%), one parent working from a home office (33%), or staying home by themselves (34%). Before the lockdown, 54% reported a good work–family balance. During the lockdown, this worsened by 42%. Most of the families had to organize themselves. Different means such as a home office, flexible working hours, and different models for childcare can help to improve the situation.

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