As sport evolves into a complex global industry, the legal frameworks supporting it have grown equally sophisticated. Emma Richmond, joint managing partner at Whitney Moore, and Aoife Farrelly, barrister and chair of the Sports Law Bar Association, are at the forefront of this shift.
In this episode of Sports Matters, they talks to Ian Kehoe about how grassroots clubs operate like SMEs, grappling with employment law, data protection, and regulatory compliance. Wearable tech and performance tracking have introduced new data privacy concerns, while volunteer-led organisations often lack the legal knowledge to manage risk effectively.
Richmond and Farrelly also highlight how governance structures—like the GAA’s Disputes Resolution Authority—serve as models for efficient, sport-specific adjudication. At the elite level, legal challenges span restrictive sponsorship contracts, IP rights, and disciplinary hearings with limited avenues for representation.
Sports Matters is sponsored by the law firm Whitney Moore.
The numbers tell their own story. More than 120,000 people are employed in the financial services industry in Ireland across 8,800 companies, with the sector generating €6.8 billion annually in tax revenues.
However, a new report from the consultancy firm EY suggests that it can grow further. If key competitive advantages and opportunities are harnessed, the report argues that Ireland’s financial services industry could grow by 26 per cent by 2028. The report, “Building a Better Financial Services Ireland: Accelerate to Elevate”, also states that employment in the sector can increase by 34 per cent, or 30,000 jobs over the baseline, ‘business as usual’ projection in that same period.
In this podcast, Colin Ryan, Financial Services Managing Partner, EY Ireland, talks to Ian Kehoe about how that vision can become a reality and the policy choices Ireland needs to take to elevate the financial services industry in the years ahead.
Ryan examines the five core strategic areas for the future of the sector -Technological Infrastructure, Talent, International Trade, Regulatory and Legal Framework, and Macroeconomic fundamentals - and explains how Ireland can develop its offering in each area by taking bold and decisive actions.
Ryan talks to Kehoe about the wider international environment and the steps being taken by other jurisdictions to develop compelling financial services offerings.
Ryan also delves into the future of financial services, the rise of green finance, and the key issues raised by the 140 senior financial services leaders across Ireland who were interviewed for the report
This podcast has been produced in association with EY.
As the Irish Ambassador to Malaysia, it fell to Dan Mulhall to find and repatriate Irish citizens impacted by the horrific 2004 Tsunami. He arrived at his next posting, in Berlin, when “Ireland was in the dog house” after its economy collapsed. Mulhall toured the country extensively, with a simple message: “Ireland has its troubles. We need help from you but don't worry, we have strength, and we will come back and we will repay every single penny of the money that we borrow from the European Union.”
From Berlin, he moved to London, at a time when Ireland’s nearest neighbour was preparing for the Brexit ballot, and Mulhall was there after the vote as relations between Ireland and the UK deteriorated. And, for his final posting, he was dispatched to Washington in the middle of Donald Trump’s first term.
Now retired from the diplomatic corps, he holds a number of consultancy positions in business and academia and is working on a project to develop an animated children's brand based on leprechauns from Carlingford.
In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, Mulhall talks about his career, diplomacy, Brexit, and the decision by Israel to shutter its embassy in Dublin.
George Hamilton was the voice of many of Irish sports greatest moments. From Italia '90 to Giants Stadium, Hamilton called the games that shaped a nation. He talks to Dion Fanning about being part of the Lost Age of broadcasting coverage, the vision of the former Head of Sport at RTÉ, the late Tim O’Connor, and why he had to leave.
Trevor Birney’s career has been defined by curiosity. As the producer of the Kneecap Movie, he might be heading to the Oscars next year, but he has written a book which tells the story of the Loughinisland Massacre and the day he was arrested for making a film about it. He talks to Dion Fanning about creativity in Northern Ireland, Say Nothing and the film he has produced about Saipan.
Pat Rabbitte is well-schooled in the art of government formation. He was there in 1994 when the Rainbow coalition came together, and he was there too in 2011 when the Labour Party coalesced with Fine Gael after the collapse of both the economy and Fianna Fail. In the former government, he was a member of Democratic Left, while in the latter, he was a Labour cabinet minister. In between, he helped negotiate a merger of the two left-wing parties, while also serving a stint as the leader of the Labour Party.
As the thorny issue of government formation continues, Rabbitte joins Ian Kehoe to discuss why Labour should not enter government, if it should merge with the Social Democrats, and whether Sinn Fein can ever offer a true path to power.
Lucinda Creighton, a former Fine Gael TD and one-time Minister of State for European Affairs, believes that the general election campaign was lacklustre, and was defined by a lack of big ideas or policy debate.
In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, she argues that the lack of policy clash is due to the fact that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have moved to the centre-left and are now coalescing around the same ideas.
Plus, Creighton argues that the only thing that differentiated most of the political parties was how much money they were willing to spend soliciting votes. In this podcast, she also talks about Ireland’s waning influence in Europe, the issue of government formation, and ideology in politics.
In his new book 'Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom', Carl Bernstein tells the story of how he found his calling, and meaning, in journalism. It is an absorbing tale, crammed with anecdotes about the characters he stumbled across through the journey.
Bernstein occupied a rarified place in the world of journalism. Together with his fellow Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, he ranks among the two most famous journalists in the world, renowned for their work bringing down President Nixon. He understands power, and the importance of holding it to account.
In this podcast with Sam Smyth, he delves into the relationship between power and politics, examining the impact of Trump on US society. He also talks about the decision by Jeff Bezos to pull an editorial by The Washington Post endorsing Kamala Harris, his reporting on the Vatican, and his recollections of his early days in the newsroom.
The attorney and law professor Barry Scheck was one of the first to link the complicated science of DNA with criminal law back in the 1990s. In the decades that followed, The Innocence Project, the non-profit organisation that he co-founded with Peter Neufeld, has used DNA evidence to help exonerate hundreds of people who were wrongly convicted. In this podcast with his friend Sam Smyth, Scheck talks about the evolution of science in criminal trials and explores how AI could be the next breakthrough. He talks about the work of the Innocence Project, the nature of criminal defence, and some of his most prominent cases, including OJ Simpson and Louise Woodward.
Manchester City are collapsing and it seems like the end of the Pep Guardiola era but what does this tell us about the Abu Dhabi project. In this podcast, Miguel Delaney talks to Dion Fanning about his book States of Play and how City took over the Premier League. He speaks about the uncertainty at the club now as they wait to hear the result of the 115 charges they are facing and why Rubem Amorim chose Manchester United over City because of this uncertainty.
The former managing partner of PwC Feargal O’Rourke has written a new book chronicling the history of the Irish rugby men’s team during the professional era. The book, From Rags to Riches; The Irish Men’s Team in the Professional Era, is an encyclopedia containing teams and match statistics of each game over the past 29 years, accompanied by more than 700 pictures and QR codes linking to online video highlights.
In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, he discusses how Irish rugby has evolved over the past three decades, and the structure that has allowed it to succeed. He also talks about his new role as chairman of IDA Ireland, what Trump’s trade policies could mean for Irish FDI and his late mother, the political trailblazer Mary O’Rourke.
