Ian Lynam had no dreams of becoming a sports lawyer, but from one deal with Arsenal and a belief that US sport represented the path to progress, he has set up the UK's pre-eminent sports law firm. Fintan Drury talks to him about representing Marcus Rashford, the sale of Chelsea and the future for rugby.
The Minister for Finance frets that Ireland is over reliant on a handful of multinationals. But without more housing, any effort to diversify our industrial base won't work.
The cost-of-living crisis was clearly, and rightly, the dominant factor behind this Budget. But it was not the only factor. This Budget was also political. With Sinn Féin rising in the polls, it also needed to send a strong message.
While central banks can influence the price of money, and hope this will help hit their inflation targets, the comforting certainty of their power is more hopeful myth than grounded reality. We should be wary of it.
Even without the global tech slide and the wider economic uncertainty, it was always unlikely that this year could match 2021 for funding. However, there are a number of issues impacting the Irish tech ecosystem right now that need to be addressed.
Graeme Souness and Jack Grealish had a very modern argument this week, but the player is living and playing in a different world to the one Souness once inhabited.
Investors are now buying UK gilts in a country with a large, widening current account deficit, barely credible fiscal metrics, a narrow tax base, and a volatile and rapidly weakening currency. The yield cost to the British Exchequer can only rise.
The response to the Commission on Taxation highlights yet again that this government, like the one before it, is not that interested in the sometimes difficult opinions of experts. This is a pity.
Social media companies controlled by private investors are bad enough. Controlled by an adversarial foreign power, they're much worse.
It’s unlikely that any budgetary intervention can address the short-term funding challenges that face Irish companies. Nonetheless, there are several other areas where government can, and should intervene to improve the environment.
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