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.
Alan Farrelly and Brian O'Rourke are the co-founders of Galway-based CitySwift, a start-up that digs into bus operators' data troves to help them optimise their networks. They tell Thomas Hubert how they grew the business from a side show to Farrelly's family business in their Longford teenage years to securing a contract with New York's transport agency and raising €3.5 million from top investors on the transport and tech scene – and why they think there is more money to be made from buses than flying cars.
Serhii Plokhy is professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard He has written many books on Ukraine, Russia, Chernobyl and the Soviet Union. The Gates of Europe deals with the history of Ukraine and the Lost Kingdom is a book about the Russian Empire and Russian nationalism. It also details what Ukraine means to Vladimir Putin and why a statue of an 11th century Ukrainian leader was erected in Moscow under his rule. In this podcast, he discusses the motivation of Putin and why the west must be united in supporting Ukraine.
Kevin Maughan co-founded Urban Volt to sell business customers energy-saving lights, and now rooftop solar panels, as a service – no capital outlay for the client, and recurring revenue for his company. He sits down with Thomas Hubert to discuss the renewable electricity market in Ireland, Urban Volt’s expansion around the world and its evolving business model as it gains access to new forms of finance.
Michael Lindsay-Hogg began filming The Beatles for the movie that would become Let It Be 53 years ago. That movie's footage became the riveting Peter Jackson documentary on Disney plus, Get Back. In this podcast Lindsay Hogg speaks about the happiness amid the tensions working with The Beatles and why he doesn't remember Orson Welles - the man his mother told a friend was his father - in his prayers.
Fiona Cormican has been delivering affordable homes for 25 years and is now director of new business at the approved housing body Clúid. In a frank and open discussion with Thomas Hubert, she breaks down the perceived opposition between private and social housing, shares insights into the inflation of construction costs and details the new cost rental tenancy model pioneered by her organisation.
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.
