Two days after a landmark €17.75bn budget designed to protect the economy from a pandemic, The Currency’s Chief Economics writer Stephen Kinsella spoke with Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe about budgetary philosophy, the economics of deficits, and the power of the state. They also spoke about how the strategic objective of Budget 2019 compares to Budget 2021, about his plans for Budget 2022, his letter to his successor, about the choice not to go for a big billion-euro policy shift on green policies and what he’s learned over the last few years.
Journalist Dion Fanning covered Irish football for much of the John Delaney era. In this podcast, he talks to Paul Rowan and Mark Tighe, the two Sunday Times journalists whose work brought an ignominious end to the Delaney era, about their new book Champagne Football. The podcast offers a deep insight into John Delaney – his rise, reign, and fall, and explains how he operated with abandon, a self-confidence underpinned by the belief he was infallible. It also explains the efforts Rowan and Tighe went to in order to expose what was going on in the FAI.
Danny McCoy is the chief executive of Ibec. In this podcast, he talks about the impact of Brexit and Covid-19 on Irish business and the future outlook of the Irish economy.
Sustainability is in vogue as everyone from corporate execs to secondary school students are becoming more earth-conscious in their decision making. Fashion enthusiast Aisling Byrne decided to make a successful business out of sustainability by tackling fast-fashion. She set up her company Nuw, a subscription-based clothes swapping app, two years ago with her friend Alison Kelly. This year they expanded their app across the UK and Ireland and are currently crowdfunding to fuel further growth. In this podcast with Cait Caden, Byrne talks about why she never thought she'd become a businesswoman, what it's like setting up a business as a young woman in Ireland, and much more.
Karl Deeter is a mortgage broker, housing market expert, singer-songwriter, and one of the leading consumer finance voices in Ireland. For 12 years he's been advocating on behalf of Ireland's borrowers and savers. Now he has a new business, onlineapplication.ie, which uses machine learning to get mortgages processed faster. The goal is to provide mortgage applications from your smartphone, with faster decisions and less paperwork (though a side effect might be less power for the big incumbent banks). Karl talks about the vulnerability of the incumbent banks, whose survival strategy he says is doomed to fail. He also discusses the “slaughterhouse” mortgage market, the "greedy" government’s under-scrutinised role in the housing crisis, and the need to “destroy house prices”.
“The Army Rangers? If you were a business, can you imagine if you assembled the top 1% of your organisation into a compound? Imagine the attitude, the energy, the potential.”
As a member of the army rangers, Cathal Berry served in the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa. Then, he left the army to train as a medical doctor, before returning as head of the Medical School of the Irish Defence Forces. He resigned his commission to advocate for change in the Defence Forces, highlighting issues about poor pay and conditions, and a growing disillusionment of military personnel with the perceived dysfunctional relationship between the military authorities and the Department of Defence. Having been elected to the Dáil this year in the Kildare South constituency, Berry talks to Sam Smyth about his career in the army, his motivation for entering politics and his deep hope that he can achieve enough in the next three years to avoid standing for election again. He also outlines what business can learn from the military, the possibility of Sinn Féin in government and the difference between neutrality and independence.
The Irish Petroleum Industry Association is dead, long live Fuels for Ireland. The industry body representing oil importers and distributors and Ireland's only refinery has acknowledged that its members won't sustain their businesses into the future by selling fossil fuels. Its CEO Kevin McPartlan joins Thomas Hubert to discuss the Covid-19 oil price crash, new fuels such as gas and hydrogen, and his call for government to stop holding its nose at meetings with petrol station owners if they are to help in the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Jack Murray worked as press officer for the Progressive Democrats and as a special adviser to a number of ministers. In 2006, however, he launched his own business MediaHQ with the stated intention of taking the grunt work out of public relations. Today, the company has several thousand clients and its media contacts database has media intelligence on every journalist working in the UK and Ireland with almost 70,000 individual profiles. In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, Murray talks about the company’s 14-year journey and its recent expansion into the British market. He also talks about the future of the media, the importance of storytelling and his mission to transform how people connect with their audience.
Aidan Connolly is the chief executive of the Dublin agtech company Cainthus, president of AgriTech Capital and a member of the Forbes Technology Council. In this podcast, the industry expert explains that while the food system was ill-prepared for this Covid-19 induced crisis, it has also hastened the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence. Speaking to Ian Kehoe, Connolly also highlights six examples of actors in the food industry who have introduced AI, how this has accelerated their growth, or even changed the way in which they operate. Drawing from his international experience, he also discusses the opportunities for Ireland in the world of agtech and AI.
“I don’t think it is right for Big Phil to sail into the sunset. I am not a supporter of his. I am a supporter of Ireland’s holding of the trade portfolio… I think we’re crazy to try and give it up.”
Jim O’Callaghan is one of Ireland’s most respected barristers and a Fianna Fáil TD. He talks about the ongoing fallout of golfgate, his ambitions in politics and career in the law to Sam Smyth. O’Callaghan also discusses how he is open to going into government with Sinn Féin, the identity crisis at the heart of Fianna Fáil, and his regrets about not pursuing his love of rugby more.
As managing director of Chevron Training, Karl Fitzpatrick runs one of Ireland’s largest providers of online childcare and healthcare programmes. However, the Wexford based entrepreneur also owns the Irish master franchise for a range of other businesses including Bricks 4 Kidz Ireland, Little Medical School Ireland and 4EverYoung Anti-Aging Solutions Ireland. In this podcast, he charts his own career and reveals how he manages his collection of business. He also talks about his role as an angel investor, his expansion plans and the impact of Covid-19 on his businesses - and the wider economy.
