Most people experience sport not in a stadium, but on the sidelines of a local club. From fundraising committees to coaching under-10s, volunteers are the engine of Irish sport. But as Emma Richmond, managing partner of Whitney Moore, explains in this episode of Sports Matters, that passion comes with real responsibility.
Richmond outlines the unseen legal landscape of community sport: safeguarding obligations, data protection rules, trusteeship headaches, and the challenges of running staff with volunteer committees. She also discusses how mergers — like the planned integration of the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association — will test constitutions and ownership structures across the country.
From finance committees to safeguarding officers, her message is clear: Understanding the legal framework isn’t optional. It’s what keeps clubs safe, solvent, and sustainable.
What did it mean to be a prison officer in the jail housing convicted IRA members during the Troubles? Brian Stack knew that life and he was a committed senior prison officer at Portlaoise prison who paid for his dedication with his life. His son Austin talks to Dion Fanning about his family’s search for justice.
The independent Senator Rónán Mullen has spent decades championing traditional values in an Ireland that has undergone profound social and political change. A vocal advocate for Catholic-informed conservatism, he has challenged prevailing narratives on issues such as secularism, migration, and free speech. In a wide-ranging conversation with Ian Kehoe, he reflects on his political journey, the role of faith in governance, and his belief that mainstream media is increasingly hostile to voices like his.
Gordon D’Arcy and Paul Howard have combined to write Let’s Play Rugby. In this podcast, they talk to Dion Fanning about professionalism, the danger of rugby’s reliance on the schools for talent and the reality versus satire in Ross O’Carroll Kelly.
Conor Murphy’s decision to leave Northern Ireland politics where he was economy minister to run for the Seanad raised eyebrows. Why was the move necessary? Why would a senior politician give up a ministerial position for life in the Seanad? Murphy’s long career in republicanism and his comments concerning the murder of Paul Quinn in 2007 provided further complications. In a wide ranging podcast he discusses all these matters with Dion Fanning.
Podcast description: Who killed Jean McConville? It is impossible to say, Martin Dillon believes, but it is one the darkest secrets of the Troubles, a conflict with many dark secrets. Dillon has made a career of exposing them to the light. He talks to Dion Fanning about his new book, his time as a journalist in the north when his life was in danger as he exposed the world of informants and double agents. He also tells the extraordinary story of bringing John Hume and Gerry Adams together for a debate on the BBC in 1985.
Who was Edna O’Brien? Was she the fearless slayer of convention as depicted by the tributes after she died or was she the frivolous, insubstantial figure long depicted in Ireland? A new documentary reveals a compelling vulnerable genius, whose courage was not a hollow statement but one that was not without fear, loneliness and misery. In this podcast with Dion Fanning, Sinead O’Shea talks about making the documentary.
How do you reinvent your business model to remain relevant and to protect your company for the future?
It is a question that many CEOs are trying to answer. And they are trying to answer it at a time of major change, disruption and transformation - from technological advancements to shifting geopolitical sands to heightened economic uncertainty. In this episode of The Tech Agenda, Amy Ball, Transformation Leader, PwC Ireland, talks to Ian Kehoe about the business of business reinvention. Ball also talks about the results of PwC’s 2025 CEO survey, discusses how businesses can prepare for disruption, and gives her assessment on emerging issues such as climate investment and GenAI. The Tech Agenda podcast series is sponsored by PwC.
We now have full sight of the returns achieved by Cerberus on the first wave of distressed debt it acquired in Ireland following the financial crisis. Thomas Hubert joins Ian Kehoe to discuss the US vulture fund's performance and how it compares between deals with major Irish providers of bad loans, such as Nama and Ulster Bank, and other European countries covered by Cerberus's growing Irish office. A major series of articles to be published this week covers the figures in detail.
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.
