The Bottom Line on KCLR

To review the business stories from the past week, John was joined by Samantha McCaughren, Business Editor of the Sunday Independent. They discuss the positive news announced by Intel that it is to create 1,600 jobs once it has completed the construction of a new chip manufacturing factory at its Leixlip campus. Another big story in the headlines this week was that of the Ever Given container ship...

Bord Bia, the State organisation responsible for supporting the national and international ambitions of Irish food, drink and horticulture businesses announced that 2020, the year of the pandemic was in fact a record year for horticulture. Carol Marks, Horticulture Sector Manager at Bord Bia spoke with John to discuss the Garden Market Research in more detail.

Following on from the recent Government announcement that Carlow and Kilkenny are to receive €28million as part of the Urban Regeneration & Development Fund, John spoke to Kieran Comerford, Head of Enterprise & Economic Development at Carlow Local Enterprise about what the funding will mean for Carlow.

Kilkenny business owners Anne Barber of Butterslip and Rory Gannon of Cakeface chat with John about the Urban Regeneration & Development Fund and how it may help businesses in Kilkenny City, they also chat about business through the existing lockdown period.

Donal O'Donovan Business Editor at the Irish Independent joined John to discuss some of the business stories making the headlines over the past week. Bord Bia, the State organisation responsible for supporting the national and international ambitions of Irish food, drink and horticulture businesses announced that 2020, the year of the pandemic was in fact a record year for horticulture. Carol Mark...

Giuseppe & Bruna Liga opened their Italian Grocery & Coffee Shop, La Bottega on James Street, Kilkenny on the days leading up to Christmas and in the midst of the Pandemic.  They joined John to chat about their decision to open their shop in Kilkenny and how business has been so far.

"Twenty Questions" is a new feature on The Bottom Line, the aim of which is to get know the people behind the businesses and organisations in our communities. Joining John for our first episode of Twenty Questions was Declan Doyle, Vice President for Development & Research at Institute of Technology Carlow.

Linda Nolan, Managing Director of MyBio Ltd a Life Sciences company based in Kilkenny City spoke with John about her organisation and the work they do as well as discussing the pandemic, the role of Covid-19 rapid antigen self-testing in the fight to curb the spread of the virus and how MyBio Ltd. is hoping to have testing kits on shelves by April.

On the programme this week, John was joined by Sam Matthews, Editor of The Kilkenny People to discuss some of the business stories from the past week, from the good news that Carlow and Kilkenny are to receive funding for the Abbey Quarter project, streetscapes in Kilkenny and Project Carlow 2040, to Fraud Awareness Week and the University in the South East. Linda Nolan, Managing Director of MyBio...

The main story making the headlines was that of Davy Stockbrokers and Dara Doyle, Bloomberg Bureau Chief in Ireland chatted to John about the story in more detail. Dara also spoke with John about the economic outlook with the Central Statistics Office having released preliminary figures outlining that GDP increased by 3.4% in 2020.

Remote Working was for many people a new way of working at the start of the pandemic and now a full year later most of us are still working from home. Claire McInerney joined John to discuss some tips on effective remote working and some interesting data on “Zoom Fatigue”.

Over the last number of weeks on The Bottom Line  we have discussed the decision by NatWest to close Ulster Bank in Ireland as well as the  recent announcement that Bank of Ireland are to close 103 of its branches. At a local level, this will mean the closure of 8 bank branches. John spoke with Minister of State for Heritage & Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan about the impact that this will hav...

Over the last number of weeks on the programme we have discussed the decision by NatWest to close Ulster Bank in Ireland as well as the most recent announcement that Bank of Ireland are to close 103 of its branches. At a local level, this will mean the closure of 8 bank branches. This week John spoke with Minister of State for Heritage & Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan about the impact that th...

John Hurley, CEO of Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce and Brian O'Farrell, CEO of County Carlow Chamber of Commerce spoke with John about how businesses are dealing with the continued restrictions and challenges,  as well as what the Chambers feel needs to be done to support local businesses.

Eamon Quinn, Business Editor of The Irish Times joined John to chat through some of the big business stories from the week. The Banking sector continued to dominate the headlines and Eamon discusses what is happening in the sector as well as impact on business.

Starting and running a business can be a daunting and lonely path for people. To have someone to give advice and act as a sounding board can be a huge help when faced with the challenges that may arise, which is where the role of a mentor can be a great addition to a business. John spoke with Gabrielle Carroll, Business Advisor at Carlow Local Enterprise Office and to Ronan Murphy of Vision Green...

Eamon Quinn Business Editor of The Irish Examiner joined John to chat through some of the business news from the week with Banking being the main story. Eamon chats through what is happening in the banking sector and the impacts on business. John spoke with Brian O'Farrell, CEO of County Carlow Chamber of Commerce and John Hurley, CEO of Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce to hear how businesses are deal...

Colette Byrne, Chief Executive of Kilkenny County Council spoke with John about The Abbey Quarter in these Covid times.  Colette discusses where the project is at currently, whether it is on track or if the development of thousands of square feet of offices is a waste of money in an era of home and remote working. To contact the show, email: thebottomline@kclr96fm.com

One of the biggest stories from the week was the announcement by Ulster Bank that they would commence a phased withdrawal from the Republic of Ireland over the coming years, Economist Jim Power joined John to discuss the impact of this announcement and what it will mean for Irish business. The World Resources Institute is a global research organisation with over 1000 staff across the globe working...

Denis Casey of Casey Business Consulting was last on the programme in November 2020 when we were speculating about Brexit and what businesses needed to do to prepare, John spoke with Denis on The Bottom Line about what the Brexit experience has been like for business so far. With thanks to O’Neill Foley, Produced by Deirdre Dromey. To contact the show, email: thebottomline@kclr96fm.com

At a time when for many, their working environment has changed dramatically Dr. Jolanta Burke, a positive psychologist spoke to John about ways in which managers and leaders can work with employees to maintain positivity during very challenging times. Dr. Burke spoke about how we are now working longer hours and shares some tips on how to maintain a work life balance when working from home. To con...

Well known Carlow Entrepreneur David Walsh spoke with John about his new start up HaloCare, a healthcare company which uses smart technology to support the elderly in their home. He tells John how the idea came about, how business has been going to date and how he remains resilient in business at this time. David also spoke about winning the inaugural Outstanding Achievement Award at the recent Na...

Laura Slattery, Media Correspondent at The Irish Times spoke to John about the biggest stories from the week. She discussed the recent research from Ipsos MRBI on how we listen to radio, customer service issues at telecoms companies as well as how Disney have been impacted by the pandemic. Well known Carlow Entrepreneur David Walsh spoke with John about his new start up HaloCare, a healthcare comp...

Samantha McCaughren, Business Editor of the Sunday Independent chatted to John about the biggest business stories of the week, from the FBD Covid Closure High Court case to the stock market and the GameStop story. To contact the show, email thebottomline@kclr96fm.com

The National Enterprise Awards 2021 took place virtually on the Thursday 11th February, from the Round Room at the Mansion House, Dublin. In advance of the awards John spoke to Killian Doyle, Managing Director of Irish Fluid Controls the Carlow Finalist at this year’s awards along with Pauline Hoctor, Assistant Head of Economic Development and Enterprise at Carlow Local Enterprise Office. To conta...