The Mayor of Berkeley says he would support a criminal investigation into how a balcony collapsed killing six Irish students on Monday night, Former staff at Clerys will protest outside the offices of the store’s new owner today, Shane Lowry will bid to stay patient at Chambers Bay this weekend after shooting his best round in a US Open on Thursday night.  Here’s this morning’s irishexaminer.com catch-up.

A conference by the Think-Tank for Action on Social Change will hear calls later today for the Government to introduce “a living wage”.

Half of people surveyed would pay more tax if the money was guaranteed to be spent on better public services, a new opinion poll has revealed.

More than a thousand pubs have closed in Ireland since 2007, with the prospect of additional excise increases likely to further damage the industry, the Joint Oireachtas Committee of Finance heard yesterday.

Workers who earn more than €100,000 a year should pay almost half of their salary to the Government.

WATERFORD Crystal workers have appealed directly to the Tánaiste to safeguard their pensions amid fears they will be left penniless if their jobs go.

SOON-TO-RETIRE workers fearful for their private pension funds have been assured the Government will support them — but only by giving them the standard old-age pension to which they are already entitled.

MORE than 500 quangos — bodies, agencies and task-forces set up at local government level — are eroding democracy by removing councillors from decisions that affect their communities, a think-tank has warned.

In a comprehensive audit of Irish democracy, the Think-tank for Action on Social Change (TASC) notes that the health of a democracy is largely dependent on public satisfaction.