Every March, St Patrick’s Day transforms Dublin — but few people know the man helping to turn a single parade into one of Ireland’s biggest cultural and economic events.
Richard Tierney is the CEO of St Patrick’s Festival, the organisation behind Ireland’s national celebration. In thispodcast with Ian Kehoe, Tierney explains how the festival has evolved into a multi-day, citywide programme — with free daytime events, night-time culture and thousands of participants — while still carrying the weight of national identity at home and abroad.
Coming from a background in live entertainment and major commercial deals, Tierney was brought in with a clear brief: make the festival financially sustainable without losing its cultural soul.
Niall Woods has a unique perspective on the world of professional rugby. A former international who plied his trade with leinster, London Irish and Harlequins, he worked in various bodies representing players for ten years before establishing his own talent agency, Navy Blue Sports. In this podcast, he talks about the decline of London irish, cutting deals with sponsors, and why ruby players who operate out of the IRFU system should be available for the national team.
In his book, "Our Lives in Their Portfolios", Brett Christophers argues that that as a result of privatisation and the financial crisis, the ownership and operation of housing, infrastructure and other social assets have moved behind closed doors. In the latest episode of ‘The Context’, he talks about his book and his theory with Sinead.
The restaurateur Padraic O’Kane is upbeat about the future for the high-profile Dublin eateries he co-owns, Fire Steakhouse & Grill in Dublin’s Mansion House and Sole Seafood & Grill on South William Street. However, he is less optimistic about the outlook for the hospitality sector outside of the main cities, many of which he believes will close down if they are are forced to repay warehoused tax debts. In this podcast, he talks about the economics of the sector, and why, as it did during the pandemic, the government needs to step in. He also talks about bringing US college football to Dublin each year and explains how, this year, the event will break the world record for the number of Americans leaving the US to attend a single sporting event.
Last year, out of the blue, the Biden administration sanctioned China’s semiconductor industry. It banned the sale of semiconductors to China and US citizens working with Chinese companies. The move highlighted the importance of the sector – and the growing geopolitical issues enveloping it. After all, it is a resource that is fuelling the global economy. In Chip War, Chris Miller recounts the sequence of events that led to the United States perfecting chip design and details why the battle to control this industry will shape our future. In this podcast, he talks to Sinead O’Sullivan about the politics and economics of the semiconductor industry.
Qualtrics is far from a household name but that belies its prolificacy. A $12.5 billion company, its client roster includes 90 per cent of the Fortune 100 companies. Irishman Donnchadh Casey is chief customer officer with the SaaS company. In this podcast, he talks to Rosanna Cooney about its new EMEA headquarters in Dublin and the upcoming acquisition of Qualtrics by private equity firm, Silver Lake.
On July 22, 1982, Malcolm Macarthur went to the Phoenix Park in Dublin and bludgeoned Bridie Gargan, a 27-yeara-old nurse, to the point of death. Two days later, he shot a young farmer, Donal Dunne, in Edenderry, Co Offaly with Dunne’s own shotgun. The killings triggered the resignation of the Attorney General, and almost brought down Charles Haughey’s government. A new book by the Irish Times journalist Harry McGee delves into the murders – the motivation behind them, the manhunt, and enduring legacy of Macarthur’s violent killing spree. On this podcast, McGee talks to Ian Kehoe about the events of 1982, Macarthur’s personality, and the political fallout that almost toppled a government.
By his own admission, Noah Charney is “half criminologist, half art historian”. An academic and a prolific writer, he is widely acknowledged to the world expert in the area of art forgery. His book, The Art of Forgery, examines how to value art and weird things, but it is also a book about psychology and the manicness of the men (and they are nearly always men) who try to one-up the high world of art institutions. In the latest instalment of The Context, Charney talks to Sinead O’Sullivan about what constitutes original work, the biggest cons attempted, and why the De Vinci Code is riddled with inaccuracies.
Ireland will become the first country in the world to mandate health labels on alcoholic drinks. In this podcast, chief executive of Alcohol Action Ireland speaks to Rosanna Cooney about the long slog of advocacy to make this happen and Ireland's future crackdown on alcohol advertising.
Is the era of globalisation coming to an end? And if it is, what does mean for Ireland, a country whose economic model is built on acting as a conduit between continents? These are just some of the question that Sinead O’Sullivan discuses with Michael O’Sullivan in the latest instalment of The Context, our new podcast/book club series. Michael O’Sullivan, a Cork-born economist and former chief investment officer for wealth management at Credit Suisse, discusses the thesis behind his book, The Levelling: What’s Next After Globalisation, zeroing in in on Ireland’s place, in a de-globalizing world.
Our Tandem co-founder and chief customer officer of Beqom, a Swiss-headquartered compensation management business, Aisling Teillard is helping companies to rebuild their relationships with staff after a rocky period of layoffs and disenfranchisement. In this podcast, she talks to Rosanna Cooney about her start-up Our Tandem being acquired, moving to Geneva and developing a new-age of company culture 3.0
