The Bottom Line on KCLR

Tom Molloy, Director of Communications in Trinity College Dublin joined John to discuss some of the business news stories from the week. During the week, the Government announced the commencement of a dedicated rescue process for small companies, the act seeks to simplify and reduce the costs for small businesses who are experiencing difficulties. Minister Robert Troy TD is the Minister of State w...

In recent weeks Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce conducted a survey among the Kilkenny City centre retailers with the aim of capturing their views on the current one way traffic system.  John Hurley, CEO of Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce joined John to discuss the results of the Chamber's survey in more detail.

Eoin Murphy is Business Development Manager at Cyber Security Company Stryve and known to hurling fans throughout the country for his successful hurling career with Kilkenny and Glenmore.  Eoin joined John to discuss his career, the overlap between business and sport and how bringing his winning mindset from sport has helped him in his professional life.

Peter Henebry, Director at Maxem Engineering, a company which are suppliers to the electronics manufacturers speaks with John about the shortage of semi-conductor chips, the culmination of factors which have contributed to the shortage and how this is having an impact on the global supply chain.

Laura Slattery, Journalist at the Irish Times chatted to John about the big business stories of the week, from ongoing Covid restrictions, a financial services company being subject to fines by the Central Bank and non-fungible tokens.   Eoin Murphy, Business Development Manager at Carlow Based Company Stryve is well known to most through his hurling career with the Kilkenny team and his club Glen...

The KBC Consumer Sentiment Survey is a monthly survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults. It's been a long running piece of research which provides a valuable insight into what Irish consumers are thinking. It has tracked sentiment over many years including during the financial crisis and throughout Covid.   Austin Hughes, Chief Economist at KBC Bank joined John to discuss the r...

The KBC Consumer Sentiment Survey is a monthly survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults. It’s been a long running piece of research providing a valuable insight into what Irish consumers are thinking and its tracked sentiment over many years including during the financial crisis, up to and throughout Covid. Austin Hughes Chief Economist at KBC Bank Ireland, joined John to discu...

Michael O'Hara,  Managing Director of DataSolutions and Co-Founder of Techies Go Green joined John to speak about how he worked to make changes within his own organisation to have the business operating in a more sustainable way with the aim of becoming carbon Neutral. In working to make these changes, Michael co-founded Techies Go Green, an organisation which aims to have their members going Carb...

In the wake of COP26 we continue the conversation around the environment and sustainability for business. Michael O’Hara Co-Founder of Techies Go Green and Managing Director of DataSolutions joined John to speak about how within the IT industry and through the organisation Techies Go Green over 150 companies have pledged to be Carbon Neutral by 2030.  Sage, the accounting and business software gro...

In early November, County Carlow Chamber announced that Robert (Bobby) Quinn would be recognised for his contributions to Carlow with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Carlow Business Awards which took place on Thursday 11th November. In this episode of The Bottom Line on KCLR we hear about the early days of Robert Quinn Ltd. starting out building small extensions to now working on large commerc...

Last week saw the return of the Carlow Business Awards for the first time since 2019, and it was a business awards with a difference with proceedings taking place across three venues where representatives from Carlow businesses large and small gathered to honour the best across a range of categories. In this episode of The Bottom Line on KCLR, John Purcell chatted with Eimear Ní Bhraonáin about th...

This week on The Bottom Line on KCLR, John was joined by Economist Jim Power to discuss climate change, the economic implications and how the Government finances are looking. Rosemary Ward, Business Consultant with South East BIC and Allen O’Neill, CEO of Web DataWorks chatted to John about ‘The Big Pitch’ - a virtual Pitching Competition open to Startup or Scaleup entrepreneurs based in the South...

PB Machine Tech Ltd. based in Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow, manufactures hydraulic cylinders and is part of the Burnside Group. The company employs over 1000 people locally. Lily Holmes, Managing Director of PB Machine Tech Ltd.  spoke with John about the global supply chain issues as well as the labour shortage and the very real impacts that these issues have on their business.

Brexit, labour shortages and supply chain issues are recurring themes that have been in the headlines for many months, and to discuss these issues from a practical perspective John was joined by Lily Homes, Managing Director of PB Machine Tech Ltd.   "Twenty Questions" is our feature piece where we ask our guest twenty questions designed to give you an insight into the individual outside of their...

Budget 2022 was the main story in the headlines this week and Alan Seery of O'Neill Foley Chartered Accountants joined John to discuss some of the key points from the Budget and to chat through some of the global economic issues that the Government would have had to frame the budget in. Colin Duggan, President of County Carlow Chamber of Commerce, spoke with John about the local business reaction...

Carlow Business Awards is due to take place on 11th November 2021, and will take place simultaneously in Ballykealey House, The Lord Bagenal Inn and the Woodford Dolmen Hotel. Having won Carlow Business of the Year 2019 and this year judging the awards, Leslie Codd, Managing Director of Codd Mushrooms and Codd Property Holdings chats to John about the awards and about his own journey in business h...

One of the main stories making the headlines this week was that of Irelands Corporate Tax regime, Eamon Quinn, Business Editor at the Irish Examiner joined John to discuss this in more detail.  Simon O ’Dwyer, Managing Director of branding & communications agency threesixty, spoke with John about the importance of marketing and how it has changed down through the years, as they celebrate 21 ye...

Now in it's 15th year, National Women's Enterprise Day took place online in early October and "Leading Lights" Kay Lyng of K Kajoux Jewels and Caitriona Cullen of Cullen Nurseries spoke with John about the event and owning and running their own businesses. 

How important is sleep when it comes to our jobs, and what are the implications on productivity levels? Motty Varghese is a senior sleep physiologist at Sleep Therapy Clinic and Delta Sleep, and he joined John to discuss the impacts our sleep or lack of can have on our everyday lives as well as our work lives.

Morwenna Coniam, Dublin Bureau Chief at Bloomberg News joined John to discuss Bloomberg’s latest Covid Resilience Ranking as well as discussing some of the big business news stories from the week. National Women’s Enterprise Day takes place online on Thursday, 7th October 2021, now in its 15th year the event will focus on how to build the future of a business. To tell us more about the day and wha...

Kilkenny Business Awards 2021 is due to take place on 20th November at the Lyrath Estate Hotel and John Hurley, CEO of Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce  along with Mags Clancy, Commercial Director of TransferMate and previous winner of Employee of the Year spoke with John about the awards, the gala night planned and what winning an award meant to Mags.

Thomas Clarke, Chef and Owner of The Fig Tree Restaurant, Kilkenny chatted to John about business during the pandemic and using lockdown to develop an award winning salad dressing which can now be found on supermarket shelves around the country.

Economist Jim Power last spoke on the programme when the country was in the process of a gradual reopening and this week Jim joined John and shared his insights on business and the economy as we head into the last quarter of 2021. Kilkenny Business Awards 2021 takes place on 20th November at the Lyrath Estate Hotel and, with the deadline of 29th September to get your nominations in for the awards...

Brian Butler of Ormonde School of Motoring chatted to John about his business, how it been impacted during the pandemic and how it has been since the gradual easing of restrictions. Brian also discusses the ongoing shortage of truck drivers and what impacts it has for the industry here.

On the run up to the 43rd Ryder Cup , John caught up with Dean Klatt, Founder of Seed Golf to discuss how his Golf equipment business based in Carlow had fared during lockdown taking the time to develop new ranges. Dean also chatted to John about crowdfunding in order to expand the business.