Breakfast Business with Joe Lynam

Ireland has set itself a very tough target of having 80% of its energy mix from renewable sources by the end of this decade. To achieve that it needs lots of big new infrastructure including interconnectors with other countries. One of the biggest is currently at the planning stage and will allow Britain and Ireland to share whatever surplus renewable energy they have with each other. Speaking to...

Apart from our own banks with their inglorious recent past, we know a lot about UK banks but very little about continental European banks. The biggest in Europe is BNP Paribas these days and this year it is celebrating 50 years here in Ireland. But would the French bank ever be tempted into lending home loans or even credit cards here? All issues for Derek Kehoe, Chief Executive of BNP Paribas Ire...

A look at today's business papers and websites with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam and Mike O'Sullivan from UNIO.

If you earn well, you have the luxury of placing your money with funds or wealth managers. You can also stipulate where you wish your money to be invested. But how do you square the circle of making money and doing the right thing - especially in a world of greenwashing and high returns from fossil fuel investments? Paul Price is the chief executive of Haven Green Investment Managers and Chair of...

A look at today's business papers and websites with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

Yesterday the government set out its AI strategy and one of the key parts of it is to train up the AI experts of the future. Are our universities match fit and producing the right types of Graduates? Gina Quin the President of the National College of Ireland spoke to Joe this morning.

9 months ago, there were very real fears that Ireland would be plunged into a recession amid soaring interest rates and energy costs. Both remain high but the Irish consumer appears to be a lot more resilient than we thought. According to MasterCard, people have spent more on experiences such as travel & entertainment than on apparel, jewellery, furniture, or electronics where sales have been cont...

Unless you’re literally off the grid, you’ll have noticed soaring energy costs. Many of us will be considering cutting our dependence on the electricity grid by getting some solar panels or a heat pump. But according to research from Chadwicks, many of us are in the dark when it comes to how much we could get in grants or support from the Government through the SEAI system. Speaking to Joe this mo...

A look at today's business papers and websites with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

As we know, global lockdowns had a huge impact on the economy. The shutdown meant that containers didn't move around and when they did they quadrupled in price due to a speedy reopening in trade. That also led to something called ‘nearshoring’ whereby importers wanted to have reliable producers closer to their main hub - even if that meant paying way more. And that in turn has kickstarted inflatio...

A run-through of some of the business stories today with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

For a small and very open island economy, airports are vital to the functioning of this place. Dublin airport is the most important access point in the country and is facing an order to curb flights after 10pm and before 7 am. Ryanair believes this could lead to major routes being cancelled and the DAA is appealing the decision by Fingal County Council to the courts. But what does this tell us abo...

We’re taking out 25% more unsecured loans with banks than last year and we’ve spent a lot of that on buying new cars and home improvements. That’s despite soaring interest rates and stubbornly high inflation. It’s all good news for the banks of course and comes in the week that they posted astronomical profits. Brian Hayes the Chief Executive of the Banking & Payments Federation joined Joe this mo...

33 years ago the healthcare company ICON was formed in Dublin with a staff of 5. It’s still headquartered in Dublin but now has offices all over the world and employs almost 40,000. Last week it posted profits of over $800m. And yet for an Irish company worth $20bn, how much do we know about ICON? Joining Joe this morning wasSteve Cutler is the Chief Executive of ICON.

A look at today's business papers and markets with Michael O'Sullivan from UNIO Capital.

We’re living longer and earning more on average than any previous generation. But when and how do you start planning for your retirement? According to the training company the Retirement Planning Council, many people get extreme wanderlust and want to travel to far-flung places once they leave full-time employment. But will they have enough left over for their dotage once the trip to the Andes is...

890 jobs are going at the consultants Accenture in Ireland. That’s on top of the 300 jobs announced only a few months ago. It’s all tied to a slowdown in employment in the technology sector especially the likes of Meta which use so many advisers. So is this a one-off job cull or is there something more worrying going on in the services sector which is the lion's share of the Irish economy? Speakin...

A run-through of some of the business stories today with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

In Jan this year, the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation came into force. The idea is that financial services companies who sell so-called Green products which claim to invest in businesses that are low carbon, aren't in fact doing what they say on the tin. Now the Compliance Institute says that fewer than one in three Irish companies meet these new rules. It all raises the idea of co...

One of the biggest obstacles to building more homes is the lack of ready infrastructure i.e. the cabling, the sewers, as well as roads and bus stops. There’s a new company that advises on the provision of key infrastructure called HISCo and it was formed by a joint venture between the Irish Strategic Investment Fund alongside Cork County Council. Only this week a new project was launched by the Tá...

A look at today's business papers and websites with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

Every company these days has ambitious plans to slash their emissions and use of carbon. For some in heavy industry, it’s a really tough task. But for others, they’ll need the help of other firms to buy their reduced carbon quotient. This is where the Irish firm Silicate comes in. To remove much of the carbon in concrete, they crush it up to tiny powder and give it to farmers to use in soil. That...

Ireland’s manufacturing sector has been in the doldrums for a few months and that was confirmed again today with the AIB purchasing managers index registering yet another month of decline. While that is in line with our European peers, strangely employment in the sector continues to grow. Manufacturing is dominated by the food and pharmaceutical sectors in Ireland and accounts for roughly 10% of I...

A run-through of some of the business stories today with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

Investment in property was down a whopping 47% in the second quarter in Ireland compared with the previous 3 months. In fact such is the collapse in commercial property that Irish property investment was the 2nd worst among 27 developed nations according to BNP Paribas Real estate. Is this a reaction to soaring interest rates or is there something deeper and longer-lasting going on in the market?...