The Real Deal brings together over a thousand entrepreneurs, investors, advisers and dealmakers at Goffs in Co Kildare for a high-energy day where honest business stories take centre stage. Founded by Mark Flood of Renatus Capital Partners and Stuart Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Power, the event has a simple mantra: “players hearing from players.”
Ahead of this year’s event, Ian Kehoe talks to Fitzgerald, Flood and also June Butler, head of corporate and SME banking at Bank of Ireland, a longtime supporter and sponsor of the event.
In addition to talking about this year’s event, they also reflect on market trends, the resilience of Irish business, and navigating an uncertain world.
The role of the CFO is changing—fast. No longer confined to reporting and control, finance leaders are now navigating growth, technology, risk, transformation, and much more besides.
In this podcast, Ian Kehoe is joined by Vickie Wall, EY Ireland Financial Accounting Advisory Services Leader, and Katie Burns, EY Ireland Consulting Partner, to explore the findings of the latest EY Ireland CFO Survey.
Despite a backdrop of geopolitical tension, tariffs and rising costs, the survey reveals a striking level of confidence: 94 per cent of Irish CFOs expect growth in 2026, with average growth projections of around 9 per cent.
So what’s underpinning that optimism—and how are finance leaders thinking about growth in such an unpredictable environment?
Wall and Burns discuss how priorities have shifted over the past 18 months, the rapid acceleration of AI adoption within finance, and what’s driving organisations to invest heavily in upskilling their teams.
They also examine how the CFO role is expanding beyond the traditional finance function, how boards are responding to that evolution, and what “good” looks like for finance leaders in the years ahead. This podcast is sponsored by EY Ireland.
Rory McIlroy is one of the most compelling athletes of his generation.
Part of this stems from his natural ability with a golf club. But much also stems from the type of person he is, and from his career arc - wild success and heartbreaking failure. While most golfers are reticent about revealing anything about themselves, McIlroy has long been an open book.
So, as McIlroy was chasing the career grand slam, the Asmierncan sportswriter Alan Shipnuck decided to write that book. Days after the book, Rory: The Heartache and Triumph of Golf's Most Human Superstar, was released, McIlroy won his second US Masters. As Shipnuck notes, the timing was perfect.
In this podcast, Shipnuck talks to Ian Kehoe about why he undertook the project, examined McIlroy’s roots and his business dealings, and explained why his honesty has made him one of sport’s most compelling - popular - characters.
Ireland has encountered a period which seems pivotal in terms of the direction of the country. Meanwhile Hungary is rejecting Orban. John Kampfner talks to Dion Fanning about how to counter populism and why liberal democracy is doomed unless it gets radical.
When people talk about AI transforming business, they tend to focus on marketing, finance, or operations—not tax.
But that may be about to change.
AI isn’t just accelerating tax processes; it has the potential to fundamentally reshape how the tax function operates.
The real question is: is tax ready for that shift?
To explore this, Deirdre Hogan, EY Ireland Indirect Tax Partner, and Alex Manek, EY Ireland Data Analytics Director, speak with Ian Kehoe.
A common theme emerges from their work with clients: uncertainty. Many tax professionals feel the pressure to “use AI,” but lack clarity on where to begin. Their advice is pragmatic—start small, focus on achievable wins, build confidence, and invest in skills.
Ultimately, they don’t see AI as a replacement for tax professionals, but as a tool—one that can free them from low-value tasks and enable more strategic, higher-impact work. This podcast is sponsored by EY Ireland.
In a former life, Mark Mellett was vice admiral of the Irish Navy and chief of staff of the Irish Defence Forces. Since retiring, he had taken on a number of other roles, including chairman of Sage Advocacy, a group that represented older and more vulnerable members of society, many of whom are impacted by the ongoing protests.
As protests over fuel price gather steam, he spoke to Ian Kehoe to discuss the nature of protest, democracy, and the need to distinguish between legitimate protest and actions that undermine democratic institutions.
Sophie Peirce-Evans died penniless in 1939 at the age of 42. A decade earlier, she had rivalled Amelia Earhart in the pursuit of aviation records. June O’Sullivan, the author of a new novel that tells the story of one episode in her extraordinary life, talks to Dion Fanning.
Mike Lynch’s life reads like a story that constantly defied probability – a self-made tech billionaire who built one of Britain’s most successful software companies, fought a decade-long legal battle, and walked free when almost no one expected him to. In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, journalist Katie Prescott unpacks that extraordinary arc, from the rise of Autonomy to the $11 billion Hewlett-Packard deal that unravelled into one of the most complex corporate disputes of modern times.
Prescott takes us inside the courtroom drama, the competing narratives of fraud and misunderstanding, and the personality of Lynch himself: brilliant, combative, and deeply unconventional. This is not just a story about business or technology, but about ambition, identity, and the fine line between genius and hubris.
And then, just as a second act seemed possible, came an ending that stunned even those closest to him. A sudden, almost surreal tragedy that reframed everything that came before it.
In June 2024, in Limerick, John Moran became Ireland’s first directly elected mayor.
It wasn’t just a new role – it was a political experiment. Powers were being decentralised for the first time in more than a century. Moran, a high-profile former secretary general of the Department of Finance and a former banker, ran as an Independent and outflanked the political establishment.
And from the start, it wasn’t smooth sailing. Conflicts with councillors, clashes with senior officials, high-profile disputes.
So, just what is going on?
For the past three months, Alan English has conducted more than 40 interviews and spoken to dozens of other people involved, including the key protagonists.
Ahead of a landmark three-part investigation to be published this week on The Currency, English joins Ian Kehoe in the studio to discuss the key issues, the central characters, and why he was reluctant to take on the project initially.
In this episode of The Tech Agenda, PwC Ireland fintech leader Nicola Sheridan and blockchain expert Lory Kehoe talk to Ian Kehoe about the growing momentum behind tokenisation – the process of turning real-world assets into digital tokens.
From shares and investment funds to real estate, infrastructure and even artwork, tokenisation allows ownership to be represented digitally and transferred almost instantly. Supporters say the technology could make markets faster, cheaper and more transparent while reducing the friction that still slows global finance.
Sheridan and Kehoe argue that tokenisation could also open investment opportunities to a much wider audience. By allowing assets to be fractionalised into smaller pieces, everything from office buildings to whiskey barrels could be owned by hundreds or even thousands of investors rather than a handful of institutions. They talk about how it works, the importance of regulation and the opportunities for Ireland. The Tech Agenda with Ian Kehoe podcast series is sponsored by PwC.
Roy Keane continues to have a hold over Ireland. Dave Hannigan’s new book ‘We Need to Talk About Roy’ looks at how Ireland shaped Keane and how Keane changed Ireland. He talks to Dion Fanning about the Keane he observed growing up in Cork at the same time and the man he became.
