Breakfast Business with Joe Lynam

We may be in the middle of a major trade war and probably in the foothills of a worldwide recession. Ireland will almost certainly be impacted. And indeed the consultants Morgan McKinley says that some employers are quietly letting some staff go.  Despite that, job opportunities for so-called white-collar workers were up 2% over the past year and even 7% over the past quarter. Interestingly,...

Sebastian Mallaby wrote a book about hedge funds called ‘More Money than God’ and in that book he writes about a ‘hedgie’ called Scott Bessent who played a huge role in betting against Sterling in 1992.   Sebastian Mallaby is the Paul Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics with the Council on Foreign Relations joined Joe this morning.

Danish company Novo Nordisk came up with a revolutionary weight loss drug called Wegovy and Ozempic.  Its rival Eli Lilly has Mounjaro and Pfizer is looking at developing one too.  Now another Scandinavian pharmaceutical group Pila Pharma thinks it may have found another weight loss pill too.    Speaking to Joe this morning was Gustav Gram, the Chief Executive of Pila Phar...

Wednesday's business news headlines along with Joe Lynam.

After another ridiculous day on the markets, companies all around the world are left scratching their heads. What do they do? And when do they do it? There is an argument that investment will stop entirely globally until there is more clarity. While it does expect economies to suffer. Supply chains will also need to be reevaluate. Allie Renison Associate Director with the consultants SEC Newgate i...

The Trump induced tariff war has already affected markets and international investment, but it could soon affect house prices. That’s the worry of the latest MyHome.ie house price survey. But at the moment they are predicting house prices to rose by yet another unsustainable 8% nationwide in the first quarter.   Speaking to Joe this morning was Conall MacCoille compiler of the MyHome.ie...

Tuesday's business news review along with Newstalk's Business Editor Joe Lynam.

ESG or environment, social and governance issues have been under attack since electorates on both sides of the Atlantic moved to the right.  Trump has ordered an end to all Diversity programmes.  But what about here in Ireland?  Should we stick with ESG matters and do our bit to protect the environment and minority groups?  Chief Executive of Repak Zoe Kavanagh certainly thinks...

The number of buildings which started construction is up 65% compared with 2022 but the number of homes actually completed fell last year to 30,000. With a housing crisis almost hitting middle age, how can these anomalies be allowed to continue?  Danny O’Shea from BuildingInfo.com which collates all the country’s construction data, joined Joe this morning to discuss further.

Paul Kavanagh from Patronus partners along with Joe Lynam takes a run through of Monday's international business stories.

Ian Hyland is the chief executive of Ireland Inc and new owner of Windmill Lane Studios. He also played host to the ECB president in a major ceremony on Wednesday and he’s also the boss of Ireland Inc with deep connections in the United States. So what does he make of the global tariff war initiated on Wednesday night?  Ian joined Joe this morning on the show.

Customer service matters or at least it should matter.  Close Brothers Motor Finance, finances thousands of car purchases in Britain and Ireland and they are sponsors of the Customer Service award for the forthcoming Changemakers on Newstalk. Joining Joe in studio this morning was Peter Pedlow, Director of Sales Close Brothers Motor Finance.

We take a run through of  Friday's business news headlines along with Aidan Donnelly from Davy.

Thursday business news review along with Joe Lynam.

So now we know.  A minimum tariff of 10% on all goods entering the United States, and an across the board tariff of 20% on all goods from the European Union and tariffs of over 50% now on Chinese exports to the United States. There was no mention of a tariff on pharmaceutical products which is so vital to our economy, yet. To take a insight into these tariffs and what it means for Ireland. Jo...

Some have warned that the tariffs to be announced this afternoon in the Rose Garden in Washington could be a bigger financial calamity than the great financial crisis of 2008.  Others have called for cool heads and for the EU to respond very carefully to whatever tariffs are announced. Either way change is on its way to world trade patterns and investment and Ireland could be disproportionate...

This week it emerged that the EU commission had responded to a question from an MEP using AI. And last month McDonalds said it would use AI in all of its American drive thru outlets.  So adoption is happening - whether we like it or not.  So how do ordinary companies use AI in an ethical or cost saving way and how do we ease people out of the business who refuse to retrain or change work...

Wednesday's business news headlines along with Joe Lynam.

Monday's big business stories along with Joe Lynam.

Something worrying is underway in Irish tourism.  The number of visitors to this country in February was down a whopping 30% on the same time last year.  And those who did come spent less as well.   The great and the good of the tourism sector meets in Killarney this week as part of the ‘Meitheal conference’ and one of the key speeches will be from the Tourism Ireland chief exe...

Nua Money is a non bank mortgage lender, which has been in the home loan market for less than a year. Alongside normal home loans, Nua has also just launched a new Freedom product which can release so-called ‘mortgage prisoners’.  Now with interest rates falling Nua might be able to steal some market share from the pillar banks.  Speaking to Joe this morning was Mark Watson the Chie...

Datavant is an American health data platform which helps companies in the healthcare sector to process the terabytes of data garnered every year from patients and hospitals.  Now they are opening in Galway and creating 125 jobs in the first phase. Datavant adds to the growing Medtech cluster in the West of Ireland which already includes Medtronic, Boston Scientific and Aerogen. Ciaran O’Toole...

The number of companies going into insolvencies fell in the first quarter of this year. And according to PwC creditors are more patient these days than banks or the taxman.  They are just 2 of the findings in the latest insolvency report, which also found that not as many retailers went bust this year than last year just after Christmas. Ken Tyrell is the Business Recovery Partner with PwC an...

Russ Mould from AJ Bell joins Joe Lynam for Breakfast Business to go through all the big business news.

Anne Butterly is March’s Repak Business Person of the Month. Anne is the brain behind EasyDry, a strong disposable paper towel business that you’re sure to see in most hairdressers across the country. In the process, those same hairdressers have saved an estimated 4 litres of water for every towel no longer washed.