For professional athletes, retirement doesn’t come in the form of a gradual career peak—it arrives suddenly, often through injury or physical decline. Unlike those in other careers who can steadily build toward financial security, many athletes find themselves facing uncertainty in their early 30s. In this episode of Sports Matters, former rugby players Niall Woods and Marty Moore discuss the challenges of transitioning out of the game, from financial instability to the loss of identity and structure. Speaking to Ian Kehoe, they explore the psychological and practical difficulties of life after professional sport and the importance of preparation for the next chapter. Sports Matters is sponsored by Whitney Moore.
The latest revelations about parties in Downing Street have increased the pressure on Boris Johnson, but how will it end for the UK's prime minister and where will the Conservative party turn next? In this podcast, Dion Fanning talks to Alex Massie and Anne Harris about the shamelessness of Boris Johnson and why that matters more than some felt it did.
John Ryan jettisoned a career in finance to join the Irish Defence Forces as a cadet in 2007. He graduated top of his class, served on international peacekeeping missions, and rose to the rank of captain. In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, he talks about how the lessons, training and experiences of army life prepared him for the world of business with Gigable, an online marketplace that links independent workers with businesses, primarily in the food delivery space.
Ryan talks about the company’s growth across Ireland and the UK since its 2018 launch, and his plans to eventually expand the business into mainland Europe and North America. He also talks about trying to humanise the gig economy, how Covid has changed the dynamic between employers and workers and his plans to raise additional funding over the coming year.
The conviction of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes on four counts of fraud has led many people to wonder if Silicon Valley will change. In this podcast with LA Times columnist Michael Hiltzik, he talks about the culture of investment in Silicon Valley and why nothing will change because of this verdict.
Testing assumptions is Ronan Dunne’s business. From altering Verizon’s management structure to thinking carefully about a living wage for his tens of thousands of employees, from rethinking the nature of capital to altering the training regime that produces workers fit for the 21st Century, Dunne has thoughtful views across a wide range of areas.
And in this podcast with the economist Stephen Kinsella, Dunne, recently installed as the chairman of the Six Nations, delves deep into many areas, as he seeks to understand how the pandemic has changed business, society, and the nature of capitalism.
Kinsella and Dunne also discuss the expansion of the state, how Ireland might access and even surpass the technological frontier, and organisational change post-Covid.
In October, Grant Thornton announced that it was hiring an extra 1,000 staff to meet heightened demand for accountancy and professional services. However, the firm’s managing partner admits that the biggest challenge will be funding the right people. In a podcast with Ian Kehoe, Michael McAteer said that securing the right talent was the biggest issue facing many businesses right now, and that many new employees would have to come from Europe and Asia.
In a wide-ranging interview, McAteer also talks about the impact of the pandemic upon society, businesses and the workplace, and gives his economic outlook for 2022 and beyond. He believes that the surge in dealmaking will continue, although he expects a number of smaller trading businesses to fold when the state supports end.
In his 2009 book Sinn Féin and the Politics of Left Republicanism, Eoin Ó Broin identified eight theses about the party and its future success. In a thought-provoking interview with the economist Stephen Kinsella, Ó Broin, now Sinn Féin spokesperson on housing, revisits the eight thesis, and also talks about what has changed in the 13 years since the book was published.
He also talks about the party’s recent electoral success, Sinn Fein’s command structure and potential coalition partners. Kinsella and Ó Broin talk at length about the party’s housing strategy, institutional investors and why the debate about housing needs to change.
For 21 years Pat Farrell has, in one way or another, been involved in transferring money from foreign investors to property developers. When Farrell was head of the Irish Banking Federation from 2000 to 2008, Irish banks basically acted as a middleman between European savers and Irish property projects.
After that model blew up, the banks got out of property lending. But property deals still need funding, so a new model emerged: direct funding of deals by investors. And because the people of Ireland don’t have that kind of capital lying around, the investors have come mainly from overseas. Farrell’s new job is as CEO of Irish Institutional Property, an industry group. He represents German, Dutch, British and American investors who are looking to buy and build in Ireland.
On this podcast he makes the case that direct funding is safer, explains why the private sector has been unable to deliver affordable homes, and looks back on his time in banking.
Oliver Callan talks about Charles J Haughey, his accomplishments, his many contradictions and the role satire played in defining him with the author of the new Haughey biography, Gary Murphy.
As he enters the sixth decade of his career in the energy industry, Eddie O’Connor is keen to open a new chapter with Supernode, the company he chairs and owns 50 per cent of. His plan is to transport energy over long distances from renewable generation areas like Ireland’s windswept seaboard to big urban demand centres across Europe. On this podcast, he takes Thomas Hubert from the geopolitical trends influencing climate action to the reality of technology deployment on the ground – and warns that obstacles to innovation in Ireland may force Supernode to emigrate.
Peter Oborne worked with Boris Johnson when the UK's prime minister was editor of The Spectator. He considered him a brilliant editor but he has in recent years chronicled his lies and evasions and the intersection between British politics and its media. In this podcast with Dion Fanning he discusses where Boris Johnson stands following the revelations about Downing Street parties last Christmas and speculates where the Conservative Party will go when they ditch him.
