Don O’Neill doesn’t speak in slogans. He speaks in stories — slow-burning, salt-air-soaked, stitched through with a kind of quiet resolve. Raised in the small seaside town of Ballyheigue, County Kerry, O’Neill grew up sketching gowns in secret, dreaming of runways far from the Atlantic’s reach. But even as he dressed icons like Oprah and Michelle Obama, the pulse of home never left his designs.
His journey wasn’t a straight line. It zigzagged through kitchens and catwalks, through heartbreak and hard-earned success. O’Neill trained in design in Paris while working restaurant shifts at night. He spent years as Creative Director at THEIA, only to see the brand shutter suddenly — a moment that cracked open his identity but didn’t break his belief. In this episode of Arts Matters, he speaks with Alison Cowzer. Arts Matters is sponsored by HLB Ireland.
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.
Michael Lillis glided effortlessly from the apex of the Irish public service to the boardroom of Ireland’s most exciting international company. After helping to negotiate the Anglo Irish Agreement, arguably the most important treaty this state has entered into since independence, he joined Guinness Peat Aviation, the company that persuaded the world to lease aircraft from Ireland. And all before he turned 40. In this podcast with Sam Smyth, he talks about all of that and more, including his conversation with Franco, Castro and Pope John Paul II.
Jair Bolsonaro came to power following dissatisfaction with corruption and the mismanagement of Brazil's economy. But his own organisational weaknesses and his failing brand of populism means he is likely to get more desperate before next year's election. Richard Lapper, author of a book on Bolsonaro's Brazil discusses his rise to power and why Trump's minions are attracted to him.
This time three years ago, Emily Beere was selling software to Wall St investment bankers. She has since joined the founding team of Thriftify, a social enterprise dedicated to turning charity shops into cutting-edge online retailers. Yet the Kildare saleswoman has lost nothing of her appetite for growth and tells Thomas Hubert the company is now pitching to investors who want to achieve positive impacts while making money: "It's not a not-for-profit. We do make profits, but it's very much the social impact and doing good business that are at the forefront of what we do."
Adam Tooze is a better economist than most economists, a better historian than most historians, and has a focus more global than anyone currently writing. In his podcast with the economist Stephen Kinsella, he discusses his latest book, Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World Economy. He delves into just how complicated the ‘real’ nature of the Covid crisis is and what it tells us about this moment of acceleration we are heading into.
Kinsella and Tooze also discuss the possibility of a climate detente between the US and China, as well as risk societies and polycrisis, the idea that the vectors of global change from climate to geopolitics to future pandemics feed into and accelerate one another.
Wendy McCormack Stunt set up her B2B digital business card company, Go DigiCard, almost five years ago to make networking easier and faster by creating personalised business cards that can be shared with anyone that has internet access on her phone. Go DigiCard is now used by 300 organisations across Europe, China, and the United States. She talks to Cait Caden about signing a new large partner in the US, her plans to rebrand, and her vision of creating a Golden Pages of digital business cards.
In 2017, Shane Curran won the BT Young Scientist and Technology Competition. Two years later, after abandoning college after just weeks, he went to Silicon Valley with an idea. He returned with backing from some of the world’s biggest funds. But the young entrepreneur is interested in more than business – he is fascination by how technology shapes society and the nature of education. In this conversation with the economist Stephen Kinsella, they discuss the evolution of the higher education system, what it can do to help founders succeed, and what might come next.
Marie Donnelly is the new chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council, which is about to publish Ireland’s first five-year carbon budget. This ceiling on the amount of greenhouse gases the country can give off will trickle down into government policy for all sectors – and changes for every business. Donnelly takes Thomas Hubert through the process and shares tips on how business owners can prepare.
