Breakfast Business

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the finance arm of the EU. It provides loans and grants for projects which it believes will support start up and government, especially in the space of decarbonisation. It funded the highly successful Luas construction and the less successful unfinished National Children's Hospital. The EIB has now launched a new toolkit for companies to see where the organisation can help. And it's hoping to boost Ireland's almost non-existent district heating scheme. Diarmaid Kehoe is the head of the EIB in Ireland and joined Joe Lynam on the show this morning.

Singapore is on the other side of the world, and like Ireland is a small and very open economy. It relies on free trade and has grown wealthy on FDI. As the world heads into a more protectionist stance and de-globalisation kicks in, both countries fear for the new world order. Both nations also want to find new trading partners to wean themselves off dependencies on much larger economies. The Editor of the Financial Times, Roula Khalif, spoke to the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lawrence Wong, and began by asking him about America's withdrawal from the role of leader of the free trading world.

Kate English, Chief Economist from Deloitte, joined Joe this morning to look at all the business news.

Business news headlines along with Joe Lynam.

Ireland is a nation of emigrants, explorers and travellers and many of us miss the flavours of home when we're abroad. Paddy Box is the company that sends a curated and personalised box of stuff we get in our supermarkets but which may not be available overseas. They're approaching Christmas - their busiest time when they ship up to 10,000 care boxes a month. Speaking to Joe this morning was Mark Loftus is the founder of Paddy Box .

It's been a year since the Dublin taskforce reported and the changes have been incremental at best and glacial at worst. Dublin accounts for 50% of Irish GDP and pays the lion's share of income tax. But the Dublin chamber is not happy. It wants a vast improvement in infrastructure delivery in the capital, reform of venture capital schemes and more support for indigenous Irish startups if Dublin is to be Europe's Silicon Valley. All to discuss with Eoghan Quigley the President of Dublin Chamber.

Argentina's Peso has fallen to an all-time low against the U.S. Dollar and has now collapsed by 99.8% since 2009. Now the Trump administration wants to provide a financial lifeline worth $20 billion to the far right government of Javier Milei who faces important elections this weekend. What's in it for America and is the Argentinian economy worth saving?All to discuss with Jon Farmer is the Editor In Chief of Latin News.

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

Ever wonder why the big venture capitalists get all the financial upside of a startup while retail investors have to wait until after the floatation? The company called Shuttle has created a platform which they say will enable small investors to get in at the seed funding stage and benefit if the company takes off. Of course they will also lose their shirt if that startup disappears which alas most of them do. Scott Ashmore the co-founder of Shuttle joined Joe on the show this morning.

A look at Tuesday's business news headlines with Joe Lynam.

Ericsson used to make mobile phones in the 1990s and 2000s before switching to the sale of the kit that mobile operators need to get their signals out there.Now the Swedish giant has signed a deal with Vodafone to provide its Radio Access network for 5G in a number of European nations including Ireland. All to discuss with John Griffin the Country Manager for Ireland with Ericsson.

Every year the French media buying giant Havas carries out a large consumer survey about brands. Which ones are up and which are on the wane. During lockdown, consumers wanted greener and more socially conscious behaviour from companies. But now the survey suggests we are getting more selfish and looking for what Havas calls a ‘Me-conomy'. Joining Joe on the show was Chris Upton the Chief Executive Havas Dublin.

NorDan, a Scandinavian windows and doors manufacturer, is rapidly scaling across Ireland with a 5 million euro investment and creating 30 new jobs in the Midlands Speaking to Jonathan this morning was Brendan Harte of Residential Director at NorDan Ireland.

Jonathan Healy look at Monday business news headlines along with Russ Mould from AJ Bell.

For ambitious Irish entrepreneurs, getting the right support to scale quickly can make all the difference. One of those who's done just that is Mark O'Sullivan, CEO & Co-founder of NeuroBell, a Cork-based medical device start-up. His company's first product, Luna, is a portable brain monitor with AI-powered seizure detection and last week. Mark was named High Potential Start-Up Founder of the Year at an awards event hosted by Enterprise Ireland.

Friday's business news and markets with Joe Lynam and Aidan Donnelly from Davys.

Workday is a Californian software company which handles financial and HR issues using the cloud. They were voted by Fortune magazine in the Top 5 companies to work for in the US. They're hiring 200 more people here in Ireland for their R&D division for AI and other sectors. Speaking to Joe this morning was Victoria MacKechnie Director of Corporate Affairs and Operations with Workday.

Shipping still transports the vast majority of products around the world. The longer the journey the more it costs per item. But the attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by Houthi pirates means the Suez canal. But now climate change and technology means that increasingly China is sending ships via the North Pole to Europe which takes around 20 days rather than 50 days via South Africa. So is this the new route of choice from the Far East? All to discuss with Malte Humpert, is an investigative journalist for High North News and gCaptain.

Now days we do much of our shopping for cars online and some even buy the vehicle without setting foot in it. Much of that is thanks to platforms such as Carzone or CarsIreland, all of which are owned by the Motion Group. But in an age of improving public transport and even self-driving taxis, will selling cars become a lot less profitable than it was? All to discuss with Ger Toher Chief Operating Officer of Motion, the parent company behind Carzone and CarTell.

Joe Lynam takes a run through the business news pages this morning.

SIRO is the broadband provider set up by Vodafone and the ESB to provide high speed internet all over the country but mainly to smaller towns and larger suburbs. It says that many companies aren't signing up to full fibre broadband as quickly as household. Meaning speeds and reliability are better when you're at home than at work. Now SIRO is launching a new broadband product specifically aimed at SMEs. All to discuss with Aoife O'Reilly, SIRO's Head of Enterprise.

Wednesday's business news review with Joe Lynam.

Foodhub is a smaller rival to Diveroo and JustEatbut. Foodhub was set up by an Albanian immigrant in England who is now moving his global HQ to Dublin. His name is Ardian Mula and he's the Chief Executive of Foodhub.

Calor offers bottled gas solutions as well as liquid petroleum gas for companies and home heating. Now Calor is opening dispensing stations. These stations will include vending machines which will allow for an exchange of an empty cylinder for a new, full cylinder. Joining Joe in studio Marc Van Huet is the CFO of Calor Ireland.

Those who thought that Trump's tariff wars had died down a bit were given a rude awakening at the weekend when he slapped a new 100% tariff on all Chinese goods. On top of that there's a risk of China taking retaliatory action against European companies after the Dutch government effectively expropriated a Chinese semiconductor company it accused of intellectual theft. All to talk about with Finbarr Bermingham, the Europe Correspondent of the South China Morning Post.

Tuesday's business news review with Joe Lynam.

Last week the EU commission sided with the airlines when it said that Spain was wrong to fine airlines for charging customers to take their bags onto the plane. It could force Madrid to repay nearly €200m to the airlines and end up in the European Court of Justice. Consumer groups aren't so happy about it and want more clarity from the Commission. Joe discusses this further with Agustín Reyna the Director General of European Consumer advocate group BEUC.

The average price of a cup of coffee increased by more than a fifth in the EU last year. It was as much as 40% in Estonia and a mere 10% here in Ireland. Stephen McCabe went from being an architect to importing quality beans for sale to a select group of retailers excluding the big supermarkets. Stephen McCabe of McCabe's coffee joined Joe on the show this morning.

An estimated $5.2 Trillion worth of investment is set to go into data centres over the 5 years to meet the huge, anticipated demand for AI services. According to Digital Infrastructure Ireland, an effective moratorium on new centres alongside crippling infrastructural inadequacies such as water and power signals that Ireland is effectively closed for business. DII, which champions data centre investment, says the entire economy will lose out without major strategic change in Government policy? All to discuss with Maurice Mortell is the chair of Digital Infrastructure Ireland.

Monday's business news headlines along with Joe Lynam and Russ Mould fro AJ Bell.

Whether it's a facelift, liposuction, breast augmentation or hair transplants, demand for plastic or corrective surgery in this country is growing but we've no definitive idea how much money we're spending on these procedures because many patients don't like to shout about it. But it's clear the days of suffering in silence over a physical feature you don't like are coming to an end. Dr Fulvio Urso-Baiarda runs one of the biggest clinics in Britain: Eterno and spoke to Joe all about the business of plastic surgery.

VAT was introduced first in the 1970s as a ‘temporary tax'. 50 years later it raises over €1 trillion for European exchequers and is going nowhere. Now the EU is looking at creating a Europe-wide way for companies to file their VAT returns for cross border sales digitally. The Commission has included the payment service providers SumUp to its expert group and Anton Tsonev is the Global Head of Tax with SumUp.

Joe Lynam is joined by Kate English from Deloitte to look through Friday business news headlines.

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

Irish house prices rose nationwide by around 8% last year amid rising real wages and very limited supply of homes. Now the latest myHome.ie survey says that asking prices have moderated slightly and have risen by 5.7% But affordability is becoming a major issue with the average price of a property coming in at 8 times the average salary. And shockingly a fifth of properties are now selling for 20% above the asking price. All to discuss with Conall MacCoille compiles the MyHome.ie house price survey.

There's been a lot of talk about Infrastructure this week in the budget. The IMF says our physical infrastructure lags 31% behind competitor nations and that's why the government says it'll be spending €275bn on it over the next 10 years. But there's also a huge risk of wastage or cost inflation as too much money chases limited capacity. Turnua builds and designs critical telecoms and pharmaceutical facilities and its founder is David Cox who joined Joe this morning.

So we know what the government will spend our money on next year. Some groups will be happy but most ordinary taxpayers won't be any better off despite the government sitting on a surplus of €10bn. The budget was though targeted at companies at entrepreneurs at investors and as such was right up the Breakfast Business street.Joining Joe to break down what is means for companies large and small is Doone O'Doherty, Workforce Tax partner, PwC and Harry Harrison, tax partner, PwC.

Wednesday's business headlines along with Joe Lynam.

So we heard from Colm about the macro picture and what we might expect later today from the government but what should small businesses expect and what do they need? Joe asked David Broderick the Chief Executive of the Small Firms Association.

Today's business new headlines with Joe Lynam.

Soon today Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe will rise to his feet in the Dail and let us know what the government intends to spend your money on next year and how much of that money he will take away or give back to taxpayers. But we should probably expect a lot of money to be allocated to fix Ireland's severely out of date national infrastructure. But what else should we expect? All to discuss with Colm O'Callaghan is a tax partner with Pwc.

Leonie Maccann from Irish Life Investment Mgt joined Joe to run through Monday's business news headlines.