Good morning.The travails of RTÉ continue to make news. Yesterday, as senior executives prepared to meet the Minister for Media Patrick O’Donovan, Labour Party TD Marie Sherlock raised the case of the late arts show presenter Seán Rocks, who she said had been paid as a producer with a presenters’ top-up – which, she said, had caused issues for his family since his death.O’Donovan said he had met Rocks’ partner, Catherine Bailey, and added: “The staff are very aggrieved, because I’ve had several off-the-record conversations with staff members, and I’ve had a lot of anonymised correspondence from staff members from the company, and you know, some people are feeling very aggrieved.”There were testy exchanges in the Dáil on RTÉ as well, with Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald decrying “the prevailing culture of arrogance and privilege” at the station. The Taoiseach agreed that there were issues requiring explanation at RTÉ but bridled at some of McDonald’s suggestions. “So the Government should run RTÉ? Think about what you’re saying,” he told her. And to Cavan-Monaghan TD Matt Carthy: “If you could run RTÉ, you would run it in the interests of your party. That is how you guys operate and would operate.” All this may be more about Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin than RTÉ, but it shows how the broadcaster can get caught in the political crossfire. Expect more fireworks today when Kevin Bakhurst and friends face the music at the Oireachtas media committee.Meanwhile, Jack Horgan-Jones reports that the number of RTÉ workers earning more than €100,000 annually grew by more than a third in the last five years. There were 270 employees earning more than six figures at the organisation in 2020 and that number grew to 315 in 2024 and again to 368 in 2025.***Rents saw the largest quarterly increase on record after they surged by 4.4 per cent between December and March as the Government’s new rent control system came into effect, a new Daft.ie report shows. Colin Gleeson has the story.***The case of Yves Sakila (35) who died after being restrained by security guards in Dublin city centre on Friday afternoon, continues to cause deep unease at Leinster House and in Government.The Congolese man, who had lived in Ireland since 2004, had been homeless for several years.Most politicians tiptoed around the case, conscious of an ongoing investigation. Meanwhile, there was a vigil on Henry Street near where he died. It has the makings of a political powder keg.***Both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste condemned the seizure of boats and Irish crew of the Gaza flotilla – including the sister of President Catherine Connolly – by the Israeli military in the Mediterranean. But not fiercely enough for several members of the Opposition, who demanded that the Government take action against Israel by enacting the Occupied Territories Bill and separate sanctions legislation proposed by People Before Profit, which will be voted on tonight at Leinster House. As of last night, there were 13 Irish people detained by the Israelis.***Two more days of campaigning to go before the votes are cast in the Galway West and Dublin Central byelections. Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris is heading to Galway this evening and will be there tomorrow as well. Mary Lou McDonald will be in both Dublin Central and Galway West. Holly Cairns will be in Galway today, while Ivana Bacik is going down tomorrow. There will be the inevitable swim photo op on Friday morning.You can follow our live coverage of the campaigns here.Meanwhile, Harry McGee went out in the rain in Dublin with Gerry Hutch and saw the veteran criminal promised votes to beat the band. He couldn’t ... could he?***Behind the scenes, armies of mandarins are preparing for Ireland’s European presidency, which starts at the beginning of July. There will be about 270 high level meetings of EU officials and politicians here in the second half of the year, and about 140 other associated events. Most are in Dublin Castle but Ministers like Dara Calleary, Patrick O’Donovan and Norma Foley will bring the Council of Ministers meetings that they chair to their home constituencies. The biggest event will be the meeting of the European Political Community (the EU leaders plus other European countries like the UK and Ukraine) in Dublin in November, which will be attended by 49 heads of state or government. EU leaders will meet for a European Council (the highest decision making body in the EU) meeting the following day. Here are the details.Best readsFascinating look behind the scenes at one of Ireland’s most powerful civil servants – who you’ve never heard of.Frank McNally on 20 years writing An Irishman’s Diary.Liz Carolan on money and Irish elections.Dublin councillor posts video about the need for a “final solution”. But of course, we don’t have a problem with anti-Semitism in Ireland.PlaybookThe Dáil is up and at ‘em at 9am with topical issues followed by a private members motion on defence and neutrality. Leaders’ Questions at noon, and after questions on policy or legislation to the Taoiseach, it’s Government legislation for the rest of the day until the weekly votes at 9.45pm. There are two significant pieces of Government legislation as well in the Seanad – the arbitration amendment Bill (which will clear the way for the ratification of the trade deal with Canada) and Jack Chambers’ critical infrastructure Bill. Highlight at the committees will be that visit of the RTÉ executives, but there’s also a discussion on staff morale in the HSE, on mooted new targeted child poverty payments, on deer management and on wind energy. Full details here.Elsewhere, President Catherine Connolly is in Leeds on the final leg of her official visit to the UK.