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.
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?
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.
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.
