Inside Business with Ciaran Hancock

First up on this episode of Inside Business, a family firm that has become one of Ireland’s best-known food brands.

Maxine Hyde’s grandmother - Ballymaloe founder Myrtle Allen - began making relish in the kitchen of their family run hotel. Today, Ballymaloe Foods has a range of products sold in supermarkets nationally, and a turnover of €15m.

Host Ciaran Hancock gives their signature relish a taste, and asks what it takes to grow a food business in a market dominated by multinational brands. How have changing consumer tastes shaped the company’s strategy? And can a premium Irish food producer continue to thrive as households keep a close eye on spending?

Also in this episode, we put one of the most talked-about gadgets of the year under the microscope. Dyson’s latest electric toothbrush comes with a price tag of €479, making it one of the most expensive brushes on the market. But does it actually deliver a better clean? Who is it designed for? And can any toothbrush really justify costing more than some smartphones?

Irish Times business and technology reporter Ciara O’Brien has been putting the device to the test.

Brought to you in association with EY.

Produced by John Casey, JJ Vernon and Andrew McNair.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First up on this episode of Inside Business, the issue of fuel costs after the Dáil voted to postpone the restoration of fuel excise duty last Friday.

Did they wilt in the face of more potential protests?

What is the cumulative impact of taxes, levies, regulations and other fuel-related charges on the cost of transport and home-heating fuels?

And with the budget around the corner, should any changes to carbon tax consider both fuel affordability and the climate programmes funded by it?

For more on this, host Cliff Taylor was joined in studio by Kevin McPartlan, CEO of Fuels for Ireland.

Also in this episode, we look at the spread of digital tipping terminals that prompt customers to leave gratuities for basic counter service.

Should you tip on a coffee-and-pastry purchase? What about a takeaway?

And is tipping becoming expected rather than voluntary?

Irish Times Consumer Correspondent Conor Pope has been writing about this, and he joined Cliff to give his thoughts.

Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council have made their pre-budget submission. They feel the Government’s proposed budgetary package will drive inflation and increase costs for households and firms.

The council also warned that current plans would increase reliance on corporation tax receipts, which it considers risky. It also feels more of the corporation tax windfall should be put into the State’s rainy-day funds.

For more on this, host Cliff Taylor is joined in studio by Niall Conroy, Ifac’s acting chief economist.

Plus, Irish Times Economics Correspondent Eoin Burke-Kennedy on the key takeaways from the latest Daft.ie report which shows Dublin rental availability falling by 18% year-on-year to fewer than 1,150 homes.

But the spike in market rents in the first quarter of this year after the introduction of new rental rules seems to have eased considerably.

The report shows what rent inflation like outside Dublin, and how finding accommodation is becoming extremely difficult for third level students.

Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Government has introduced 46 tax measures since 2013 to stimulate house building here. Have they worked and do they represent good value for money for taxpayers?

To help answer that question Ciaran Hancock is joined by Marian Finnegan, chief executive of Sherry Fitzgerald, Ireland's largest estate agent, and John McCartney, a property economics lecturer in TU Dublin, who spent 20 years working in the commercial property sector.

Together they debate a range of questions that are key to Ireland’s housing and property sector:

How many new homes do we need per year to serve the needs of a growing population?

Are schemes like Help to Buy or First Home good value for money - or do they only serve to drive prices ever higher?

Is it possible to design new schemes to bolster homebuilding in areas outside Dublin, where needs remain unmet?

What is the true level of vacancy around the country and what does it tell us about housing need?

How healthy is the commercial property sector?
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It's been a busy week for tech giant Meta. Its new glasses have sparked controversy over privacy concerns, while founder Mark Zuckerberg published his AI manifesto, and the company indicated that it might be willing to pay local communities to host data centres in their areas. Irish Times tech expert Ciara O'Brien explains why the glasses have caused such a stir and how Zuckerberg's approach to AI differs.

In part two: Ireland's corporation tax receipts are bulging, helped by the increase in the rate of tax paid by large companies as a result of recent changes agreed under the auspices of the OECD. The government recently published exchequer returns for the first seven months of the year, giving an insight into the extra corporation tax that is likely to flow our way. It's a helpful backdrop for the government in the run-up to October's budget. Eoin Burke-Kennedy looks at the numbers and what they mean. He also looks at what might happen to Ireland's public finances if an Apple, Microsoft, or Eli Lilly were to pull out.

Brought to you in association with EY.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.