Breakfast Business with Joe Lynam

The Planning & Development Act was supposed to speed up the delivery of big infrastructure projects by limiting the number of objections permissible.  Thus far there is no evidence of the Act doing what it says on the tin.  So why do we have an objection culture in this country and why even bother throwing good money after bad if everything will be blocked in the courts?  All to...

Tom Hayes spend five years in jail for rigging the key benchmark interest rate among banks known as LIBOR.  He used to work for UBS and Citi banks and vigorously protested his innocence. Two weeks ago the UK Supreme Court agreed with him and quashed the conviction. But how did it come to pass that an individual and not a wealthy bank would be sent to prison for doing his then job and what hap...

We take a look at Tuesday's business news headline.

All the business news with Aidan Donnelly from Davys.

Visitor numbers from overseas to Ireland in June were down 2% to 654,000. That’s much better than many had feared after earlier CSO data suggested a major fall-off in tourist numbers. But that figure is still around half the number of people who came to this island before Covid in 2019. Why? Is it the astonishingly high cost of holidaying and eating out in Ireland or is somethi...

The AI act from the European Union came into force earlier this year but its legal obligations are being slowly rolled out. Tomorrow, an important new phases come into force which will oblige AI companies and users of artificial intelligence to comply with a slew of new rules. Doubtless, this will irritate quite a few people in the tech industry and even in the White House. So what are these new o...

Victoria Scholar from Interactive Investor joined Joe Lynam to discuss the latest on the markets.

Last week the government said it was set to spend €100bn over the next 5 years on infrastructure. Most of that will go on housing and water but the urgency on expanding the electricity grid was highlighted when Amazon walked away from a giant project because ESB networks couldn't guarantee the power for it. Now the energy suppliers Pinergy say that demand for electricity will grow by 66%...

The newly merged Smurfit Westrock's is the world's largest listed packaging partner. Today they published their 2nd quarter consolidated results and they posted a net loss of $26m on sales of just under $8bn but an EBITDA of $1.2bn. The fact that it operates across 42 countries with paper and cardboard 67 mills means it should be shielded from the de-globalisation brought on by Donald Tr...

Joe Lynam takes a run through Wednesday's business news headlines.

District heating is where local homes and businesses get their heating from a single building in the area which itself gets that energy from renewable sources such as heat pumps or solar. Ireland has the lowest amount of renewably sourced heat in all of Europe. The Scandinavians are streets ahead of us. Copenhagen has 3000km of pipework for district heating - while Dublin has only 2.  Bu...

Poolbeg Pharma, named after the infamous Red & white towers has been working on some very exciting new ideas including a new cancer immunity drug and a potential weight loss tablet. But most early drug developments fail to make it to the final round of testing on humans because it’s so risky and so expensive.  And what does a pharma company like Poolbeg make of the EU-US trade deal w...

Joe Lynam takes a run through Wednesday's business news headlines.

Last week the government said that the tax cutting package in the October budget would be €1.5bn but that almost ⅔ of that would go to the hospitality sector in order to cut VAT rates for it back down to 9%. My next guest will be one of the beneficiaries of that but, because all his clients are companies, won't be doing any profit taking - he assures me. He runs entertainment and caterin...

Joe Lynam was joined by John Alistair the former Director of International Affairs for the EU Commission and Head of the EU Delegation to the WTO as well as the UN. He’s a Senior Trade negotiator and now a lecturer and consultant. He knows a fair bit about international trade and yesterday he described the EU trade deal with the US as ‘the worst trade deal ever’. But what does he really...

Joe Lynam takes a run through Tuesday's business news headlines.

Joe Lynam takes a run through Monday's business news headlines with Russ Mould of AJ Bell.

With the rising cost of hiring as well as rents and insurance, it’s no surprise that many companies outsource their customer services overseas.  My next guest operates call centres for a number of Ireland based businesses to India and the Philippines.  But increasingly he is developing an AI operated voice service for his customers in order to cut his price tags for Irish clients.&n...

So we’ve reached a trade deal with the US. All physical European goods will now face a 15% tariff while Americans will pay almost nothing to be sold here. Is it a trade deal or a trade capitulation and what will it mean for our companies selling in the States or American giants based here. My next guest is the chair of the IDA but is also a director on the board of the drink giant C&C as well...

All the business news and markets this Friday along with Joe Lynam and Aidan Donnelly from Davys.

Yesterday the government set out 26 actions to cut our astonishingly high insurance premiums down including legal reforms to reduce high payouts in the courts.  Seán Fitzgerald, is a partner with HOMS assist represents people who have been negligence victims. Especially in the case of industrial accidents.  What does he make of the reforms? Seán Fitzgerald discussed with Joe this morning...

Ireland has among the least developed and most overused infrastructure in Europe.  The Government will spend €100bn to build the railways, roads and water infrastructure that the nation needs.  But we don't have a great track record when it comes to building stuff while we are past masters of objecting to the construction of nearly everything.  All to discuss with Kaine Lynch works...

The government has launched a consultation to expand the Critical Skills Occupations List that can be fast-tracked into the country when it comes to getting a work permit.  But where will they all live is also the question. Speaking to Joe this morning was Alan Dillon is the Minister of State at the department of Enterprise with special responsibility for small business who has also launched...

Drones are the technological equivalent of the airplane a century ago. Manna Drones delivering food in the West Dublin area. But plans to expand to other parts of the city have faced huge resistance from locals who don't like the buzzing sounds.  Are we about to shoo away a genuine business technology company or can planning rows be surmounted?  All to discuss with Bobby Healy the C...

Joe Lynam takes a run through Thursday's business news headlines.