Breakfast Business

have you ever thought of putting whiskey into iced tea? Julie Wels, Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Egans Hard Iced Tea the co-founder of a business that has not just done so. But also launched the product in the US. Julie told Susan all about the business.

Irish Universities Association is quoting a funding gap of €250m in real terms. They say the continuation of this runs the risk of eroding the capacity, quality and competitiveness of our third-level sector”. The Director General, Paul Johnston discuss this further with Susan HayesCulleton.

Wednesday's business headlines with Susan HayesCulleton.

Butler Manufacturing Services has been making sewerage treatment systems in Co Longford for 40 years. It accounts some of the biggest house builders among its customers as well as international water authorities. But these systems do not use corrosive or damaging chemicals to clean water for estates and towns of up to 5,000 people. The founder and boss of BMS, Seamus Butler has been chosen as the ‘Green Businessperson of the Month' for September courtesy of Repak.

Claire Doody is the Founder of Work in Motion. She believes that the 5 characteristics that will matter most in the coming AI age. The are perception, openness, agency, discernment and adaptability. Claire discuss this further with Joe this morning.

Monday's business headlines along with Susan HayesCulleton and Paul Kavanagh, Director at Patreonous Partners.

Tuesday's business headlines along with Joe Lynam.

Livestock farming has always depended heavily on a farmer's eye and instinct. New technology is changing that. Nofence, a Norweigean agtech company has pioneered virtual fencing and Eamonn Walsh, a farmer from Foxford Co. Mayo is using this technology.

At a time when Ireland's employment is at record levels and employers have to work hard to recruit people. New research shows there are five key reasons why women aged 50 - 65 are leaving the workforce earlier than men. Joining Susan to discuss this is Carolan Lennon, Co-Chair of Balance for Better Business.

How many of us can say that they have been farmers, soldiers before running a technology company? Well, Nick Connors can. Nick served his country in Lebanon and now runs the cloud computing business TEKenable.Nick joins Joe to discuss all things cloud computing.

Joe Lynam takes a look at Friday's business news headlines with Lenny McLoughlin from Irish Life Investment Managers.

Ireland has the most expensive energy costs in Europe with wholesale electricity prices rising by 77% since last year - thanks in no small part to Donald Trump's war against Iran. Dave Kirwan, Country Chair of Bord Gáis Energy and Managing Director of Centrica Power, joins Joe to discuss why it might be time to embrace nuclear.

Squarespace is well known for website builders. It co-designs and hosts sites for companies and individuals enabling updating and live feeds from the likes of X or LinkedIN. But how will Squarespace react to Agentic AI which may cut out some middlemen? Joe discuss this and more with Colm MacCarvill, Head of Squarespace Ireland.

Every company with a fleet of cars or vans on the roads at the moment will have noticed the soaring cost of filling up or even charging. According to the Fleet and Mobility Index, a not surprising 93% of them say that is influencing their thinking when it comes to their vehicles. Speaking to Joe this morning Olivier Mantoulan the Managing Director of Drivalia Ireland, one of the biggest fleet providers in Ireland.

Joe Lynam takes a look at Thursday's business news headlines.

It's Pensions awareness week. Ralph Benson is the founder of Moneycube.ie and believes that many companies have abrogated their responsibilities when it comes to looking after former employees to trustees and master trusts.

Last year the government paid more than half a billion Euros in fees to the big consulting companies- triple what it handed over before Covid. It comes as the so-called Big4 advisors are under scrutiny for their advice. Claudine Cassar is a Corporate Anthropologist and Editor of big4news.com was an equity partner with Deloitte and writes about the undue pressure that is placed on partners and staff to cut corners to achieve financial targets.

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

David O'Donnell, Managing Director of Fenton Fitzwilliam suggests that companies should lobby senior civil servants to effect change and not Government Ministers. But is that even possible? Joe discussed this and more with David this morning.

Michael Pedroni has advised four different Treasury Secretaries in the US government including Henk Paulson as the world economy was melting down in 2008. Michael talks about his concerns more publicly as the boss of the Advisory Business Highland Global Advisers.

Tuesday business news review with Joe Lynam.

Europe has its single market but many firms complain about the wall of bureaucracy and form filling that they have to endure to meet all sorts of regulations .So 2 years on from the famous Mario Draghi report, the Commission says it will cut the administrative burden by 25% before 2030. Speaking to Joe to discuss this further was Valdis Dombrovskis the EU Commissioner for Economy and Productivity Implementation and Simplification.

Energy costs are rising and heating your premises is starting to eat into your bottom line. For many it makes the case for insulating your businesses to keep costs down. Michael O'Hara, founder of Techies Go Green says that the decarbonisation agenda can cut your bills in the long run but steps will have to be taken urgently.

Stephanie Wickham is the Founder of Expat Taxes Limited and six years later, she has successfully sold the company to Ecovis Ireland. It is currently on an acquisition cycle backed by BGF Equity. Stephanie Wickham joined Susan in studio this morning.

This week the Law Society of Ireland is introducing a new solicitor apprenticeship programme. This will be fully accredited by the Law Society and of equal standing to existing qualification pathways. For all the details on this Susan spoke to Rory O'Boyle, Head of the Professional Practice Course at the Law Society of Ireland.

We take a look at this morning's business headlines with Susan Hayes Culleton along with Aidan Donnelly, Head of Equities at Davy.

It's been 2 years since the famous Mario Draghi report into improving European competitiveness. It painted a stark picture of EU decline. One of the biggest proponents of those changes were the European Roundtable which is a loose affiliation of CEOs and chairs of 60 major European multinationals. How do the big bosses feel about the pace of change since that famous speech in 2024? Joe asked Anthony Gooch Gálvez the ERT's Secretary General

Ireland officially has a target of at least 42.5% of our energy mix coming from renewable sources by 2030. That almost unreachable target means a lot more electricity use instead of fossil fuels. Ireland Electrified suggests removing the additional costs applied to bills including VAT. Thus rewarding those who invest in electrification projects and encouraging companies and households to use energy in off-peak times. Speaking to Joe was Helen O'Sullivan the Chair of Ireland Electrified.

Thursday's business headlines review with Joe Lynam.

The EU Pay Transparency Act should be in force by now but has been delayed. Fidelma McGuirk is the founder of Payslip is launching a new SaaS platform to make the dissemination of this information by employers a tad easier. It's called Lecora from Payslip and Fidelma told Joe all about the new platform.

Wednesday business news headlines with Joe Lynam.

The US led war on Iran has had a material impact on Irish inflation and that is likely to stick around next year. According to the latest quarterly bulletin from the Central Bank of Ireland, inflation will average at 3.4% this year and nudge down to 3.1% next year. Putting added pressure on household budgets and on companies to raise salaries to keep pace. Speaking to Joe to discuss further was Thomas Conefrey is Head of Economic Analysis with the Central Bank of Ireland.

Europe doesn't have any major tech companies nor social media platforms which means it can only control them through regulation and fines. But they appear to be ineffective and the platform power appears to be growing rather than waning. Speaking to Joe this morning was the person in charge of that EU regulation. Henna Virkkunen is European Commission Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.

We're only three weeks out from the big announcement and more details on the proposed new personal investment accounts in the budget. They will enable households to potentially grow their money. But there will be no such tax wrapper for any gains from investing in private Irish companies. Joe gets reaction to this with Chris Burge of the venture capital company Spark Venture Funding

One of the more striking political U turns in American politics has been how billionaire tech bros have gone from criticising Donald Trump to actively and financially supporting him. Gil Duran wrote a NY Times bestseller which suggests that many well-known figures have turned to hard right. The book is called The Nerd Reich : Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy' and Gil spoke to Joe this morning.

Tuesday's business headlines review with Joe Lynam.

The big music festivals of the summer are behind us but that merely means that the organisers start to plan for next year. Jonny Boyle, Executive Creative Director of Fuel y runs the Beyond the Pale and Kaleidoscope festivals and Wellfest has just ended in Belfast. His company, Fuel, also organises huge corporate events for some of the biggest brands in the world.

Joe Lynam along with Kathleen Brooks from XTB takes a run through Monday's business news headlines.

Shares in luxury companies are very much out of favour. Some of that is down to a squeeze on incomes and some of it because fashion houses might have been overvalued as well as a dip in demand from the giant Chinese market. Stéphane Girod ihas written a book about the changes that are needed in the luxury sector called ‘Purposeful Luxury'.

We're going increasingly cashless in this economy. 90% of the near €50bn worth of point of sale payments in our shops were contactless. According to the Banking and Payments Federation's Payments Monitor for the first half of the year, mobile wallets such as Apple or Google pay now account for ⅔ of these contactless payments.Joining Joe to discuss this further was Gillian Byrne Head of Payments with the BPFI.

Friday business news review along with Joe Lynam and Kate English the Chief Economist with Deloitte.

Thursday's business headlines with Joe Lynam.