“There’s an army of people out there with hugely successful careers that are really not doing anything”
Billy Magra has led an extraordinary life. One of his gifts during a career in comedy, music and television was identifying the coming trends. Now he wants to be part of a third-act revolution.
Tony Boyle: “It is very difficult for any mere human, a mere mortal, to fight not only the state but the richest man in Ireland”
Sam Smyth meets Tony Boyle, who continues to seek justice over the awarding of the state’s second mobile phone licence to Denis O’Brien’s Esat. It has been an exhausting and costly battle, but, steeled by the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal, he is not giving up.
"We do things very simply. We have state of the art logistics." Breege O'Donoghue spent 37 years at the top of global giant Primark. Here she talks value, ambition, and the very DNA of the retail trade
McRedmond on closing down post offices, rolling out broadband, heated moments with Vincent Browne and rural rioting
An Post CEO David McRedmond has held leading roles in the communications sector including with TV3 and eir. He tells Sam Smyth about taking on the banks, maintaining government investment in the countryside and making money from broadcasting – all in the face of digital transformation.
We need to talk about reform: When Stephen Kinsella meets Robert Watt
In an in depth interview, the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform talks about overhauling the Department’s culture post-crisis, the institutional reforms that have taken place and the need for a robust public debate around the political economy of spending.
Ian Kehoe meets Philip Lee: “There was a gun on the table and $10,000 in my pocket. This was not normal legal work.”
Having earned his spurs in a global trade dispute over bananas, Philip Lee has built one of the state’s prominent law firms. So just how did he do it, what would he change about the system, and what are his plans for the future?
B2B with Alison Cowzer: Entrepreneur Michael Dawson reveals how he built the Gift Voucher Shop from scratch before selling it for more than €100m
Michael Dawson has had a varied career. He started out in politics in the late 70s, booked out the RDS for Italia 90, built up the business One4All and sold it for €100 million. In this podcast, he talks to Alison Cowzer about his personal journey, revealing lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Paschal Taggart has been at the heart of Irish business for more than four decades. In this exclusive interview with Sam Smyth, he talks about how a man from Antrim became a pillar of Irish commerce.
Leveraging full surrender: The real story of why the Quinn family dropped their epic legal battle
The Quinn family spent eight years waiting for vindication. Then, just days into their legal action with the former Anglo Irish Bank, the family unceremoniously dropped the case and walked away with nothing. The full story behind the complete surrender has never been told. Until now.
