“I had a very frank discussion with McGuinness and I told him that I couldn’t ever square the application of violence for political reasons”
Northern Ireland journalist Eamonn Mallie has just released a memoir, Eyewitness to War and Peace, and his interview with Dion Fanning explores the upheaval he has witnessed through a career covering the Troubles and the peace process, as well as the process of reporting on it. "With Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly at the helm, I’m hopeful that we’re on the right track again," Mallie says, and he explains why.
“We don’t have one law on insolvency across the EU, we have 27. We’re trying our best to harmonise parts of that”
Mairead McGuinness is facing the final period in which she can push reforms through as European commissioner for financial services. As we get closer to European and Irish elections that will define her own political future, she tells Thomas Hubert that "nitty-gritty" measures to progress towards a capital markets union are her priority, defends the taxonomy of sustainable investments she has put in place and explains what the EU wants to achieve with sanctions against Russia.
Funding a start-up in a downturn: “Investors are still interested at the stage we’re in”
Shane Kiernan and Stephen MacCarthy are co-founders of Recruitroo, a company tackling labour shortages with an automated online platform to recruit overseas workers. While they acknowledge it is difficult to raise money at the moment, they tell Thomas Hubert that investors still remember the value created by start-ups founded in the previous economic slowdown over a decade ago.
“My job is to get things done. I am focussed on getting an outcome that works for Northern Ireland and I will not rest until we get that.”
The DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson spoke at an event organised by Co-Operation Ireland last night. After the proceedings ended, the politician sat down with Tommie Gorman to discuss power sharing, the Windsor Framework, and North-South relations.
“The area which we’re involved in is influence. Who’s influencing? And how are people influencing EU legislation?”
Emily O'Reilly marks 10 years as European Ombudsman as Brussels is engulfed by the Qatargate corruption scandal. As one of the top officials tasked with policing fellow eurocrats, she explains where gaps remain in the "integrity architecture" of the EU and why. The former journalist and Irish ombudsman also tells Thomas Hubert how she is approaching next year's European election, when her own position will be up for renewal.
“I started writing these stories back in 2015, and straight away, weird stuff started to happen.”
Wirecard was once a $30 billion tech start-up unicorn. However, it was later exposed to be a financial fraud by a team of journalists led by Dan McCrum. McCrum is part of the Financial Times investigations team, and his book, "Money Men: A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth", is an international bestseller. In this podcast, he talks to Sinead O’Sullivan about his efforts to uncover the story and the interlocking relationships between politics and business.
“There are obviously elements of mismanagement. Sometimes there’s overpaying of players, and I think in London Irish, that was evident.”
Niall Woods has a unique perspective on the world of professional rugby. A former international who plied his trade with leinster, London Irish and Harlequins, he worked in various bodies representing players for ten years before establishing his own talent agency, Navy Blue Sports. In this podcast, he talks about the decline of London irish, cutting deals with sponsors, and why ruby players who operate out of the IRFU system should be available for the national team.
“I am looking at asset managers that are invested in housing and infrastructure – taking controlling stakes and charging very high fees for doing that.”
In his book, "Our Lives in Their Portfolios", Brett Christophers argues that that as a result of privatisation and the financial crisis, the ownership and operation of housing, infrastructure and other social assets have moved behind closed doors. In the latest episode of ‘The Context’, he talks about his book and his theory with Sinead.
“If we lose the local restaurant, or the B&B, or the bar, more than likely they are not coming back. They are gone”
The restaurateur Padraic O’Kane is upbeat about the future for the high-profile Dublin eateries he co-owns, Fire Steakhouse & Grill in Dublin’s Mansion House and Sole Seafood & Grill on South William Street. However, he is less optimistic about the outlook for the hospitality sector outside of the main cities, many of which he believes will close down if they are are forced to repay warehoused tax debts. In this podcast, he talks about the economics of the sector, and why, as it did during the pandemic, the government needs to step in. He also talks about bringing US college football to Dublin each year and explains how, this year, the event will break the world record for the number of Americans leaving the US to attend a single sporting event.
“The whole world is dependant on chips made in Taiwan”
Last year, out of the blue, the Biden administration sanctioned China’s semiconductor industry. It banned the sale of semiconductors to China and US citizens working with Chinese companies. The move highlighted the importance of the sector – and the growing geopolitical issues enveloping it. After all, it is a resource that is fuelling the global economy. In Chip War, Chris Miller recounts the sequence of events that led to the United States perfecting chip design and details why the battle to control this industry will shape our future. In this podcast, he talks to Sinead O’Sullivan about the politics and economics of the semiconductor industry.
“From a sale, to IPO, to a private equity acquisition. It’s a full bingo card of things that can happen to you as a company”
Qualtrics is far from a household name but that belies its prolificacy. A $12.5 billion company, its client roster includes 90 per cent of the Fortune 100 companies. Irishman Donnchadh Casey is chief customer officer with the SaaS company. In this podcast, he talks to Rosanna Cooney about its new EMEA headquarters in Dublin and the upcoming acquisition of Qualtrics by private equity firm, Silver Lake.