In 2001, Peter McKenna was on the corporate fast track at Smurfit in the publishing business. But a conversation with mentor Paddy Wright planted the seed for a dramatic career pivot as stadium director of Croke Park. When he took over, the stadium was under construction and loss-making. Last year, it had annual revenues of €132 million and paid a €16 million dividend to the GAA.
McKenna still serves as stadium director but he is also in charge of the GAA’s commercial arrangements and corporate partnerships.
In this episode of Sports Matters, he talks about making the stadium as a financial contributor to the GAA, the decision to take control of the association’s streaming service, and the lessons from his career.
Sports Matters is sponsored by the law firm Whitney Moore.
In this podcast, Roman Imielski, journalist and editor at the largest broadsheet newspaper in Poland Gazeta Wyborcza, explains what is happening in his country and why the stand off with the EU could play into the Polish government's hands as they try to create anti EU feeling in a country which remains supportive of the union.
Sean Smith is a fresh-faced 22-year-old ag-tech entrepreneur who co-founded Micron Agritech, a parasite testing kit for livestock, while at university in TUD. Since its creation in 2019, the business now has 10 employees and an office on Dublin’s Northside. The company has already raised €500,000 through Yield Lab and is looking for a further €1.5 million in funding ahead of its official launch in early 2022. Although parasite testing in livestock is the current focus for Micron Agritech, Smith believes it has the potential for use in human health in the future as well.
"I don't believe we can trust the gambling industry." As his book on corporate culture See-Saw is published, Fintan Drury looks back on his own career and his time on the board of Anglo Irish bank and chair of Paddy Power. It has been an extraordinary career and in this interview with Dion Fanning, he discusses representing Brian Kerr, his early career in journalism and why his career left him with a feeling of angst.
Nicholas Boys-Smith is the founder of Create Streets, a social enterprise in the UK which is focused on making new development as popular and as beloved as historic development. This matters not just for its own sake, but because unpopular development tends to get blocked in the planning process, which drives up housing costs. Boys-Smith speaks to Sean Keyes.
As Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath has overseen one of the biggest spending packages in the history of the state. As Minister for Reform, he also must ensure the state gets value for money. He talks policy, politics and the public sector with Stephen Kinsella.
Kevin O'Donovan was a co-founder of Element Power when the Norwegian state-owned renewable energy giant acquired it three years ago. He is now Statkraft's boss in Ireland and oversees its wind and solar energy business across northern Europe. In a companion interview to Thomas Hubert's exploration of the business, O'Donovan shares his views on the renewable project life cycle, what Ireland needs to do to achieve its decarbonisation targets and the unique funding model he can tap into within the Statkraft group.
Ben Schreckinger, a reporter in Washington with Politico, has written a book on Joe Biden's long public life and the compromises and conflicts of interest that might have arisen during those years. Biden's life has been defined by tragedy and those tragedies brought his family together but in keeping that united front, questions have been raised about some family dealings. In this podcast, he talked to Dion Fanning about the president's career and the family he shares it with.
Many of the best things that have happened in Irish sport have involved Gary Keegan, including the rise of Irish boxing, where he was high performance director for six years. Keegan has since worked with the IRFU, Cricket Ireland and is CEO of Uppercut, which looks at ways of maximising high performance for individuals and organisations. Paul Flynn worked with Keegan at Dublin and in this conversation they discuss those years, vulnerability and why Jim Gavin's endless curiosity ensured success.
Ireland is finally getting ready to join a global agreement on the taxation of multinationals at a firm rate of 15 per cent – assuming other pieces of the complex puzzle can fall into place in the coming days. Sean Keyes is joined by The Currency's Senior Correspondent Thomas Hubert and Chief Economics Writer Stephen Kinsella to discuss the latest state of play and the consequences of the emerging final deal on the country's industrial policy, tax revenue and wider economy.
Colm Tóibín’s new book, The Magician, deals with the life of Thomas Mann.
Tóibín finished the book before lockdown but he went back to it in that period and amended it and edited it. The subject matter has added to the natural anxiety which Tóibín feels as he releases a novel. He is not writing about Ireland, he says, or Wexford. Or Enniscorthy. He is dealing with one of the great German writers from a family that have intrigued many for a long time.
But the pandemic too has increased that anxiety. In this podcast Tóibín talked to Dion Fanning about the effect of lockdown on the psyche, his wonderful new book 'The Magician', as well as Ireland today.
