A weekly look at business and economics from an Irish perspective hosted by Irish Times Business Editor Ciarán Hancock. Produced in association with EY. Hosted ...
“Landing Google really put us on the map”: Karl Brophy on the success and sale of Red Flag
Earlier this month, Red Flag Global, an Irish-based strategic communications firm was acquired by New York-based Ankura Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm.The financial details weren’t revealed but it is understood that the price tag on the deal was €45 million.Founded in 2013 by Karl Brophy, the company was chaired by Gavin O’Reilly, son of Tony O’Reilly and a former chief executive of Independent News & Media.Karl joins host Ciarán Hancock on this episode of the Inside Business podcast to discuss his career that began as a Fine Gael press officer before stints covering politics for the Daily Mirror and the Irish Examiner.He later went to work as a journalist and editor with INM, including a six-year stint editing an edgy tabloid title in South Africa.In January 2011 he was appointed as Director of Corporate Affairs and Content Development at INM, reporting to Gavin O’Reilly.It was a turbulent period in the history of the company, with a well-publicised battle for control of the business between the O’Reilly family and Denis O’Brien, who became a major shareholder.Karl left INM in October 2012, setting up Red Flag just months later.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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How does Ireland fix its dysfunctional rental sector?
In the past week, Taoiseach Micheal Martin has suggested that the Rent Pressure Zone system could be scrapped and that tax breaks could be introduced to help incentivise developers to build more apartments and houses.Would these measures make rents more affordable for tenants? Or boost the supply of affordable new homes?To tease out this tricky political issue, Inside Business host Ciarán Hancock was joined in studio by Dublin-based estate agent Owen Reilly and on the line by Michelle Norris, who is director of the Geary Institute for Public Policy at UCD and was a member of the Housing Commission.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Are we at the beginning of Donald Trump’s global trade war?
At the start of this week US President Donald Trump took the global economy into uncharted territory by threatening a multi-front trade war.After last-minute negotiations on Monday, hefty tariffs for Canada and Mexico were suspended for 30 days. China then saw a 10% duty imposed on their imports into the US and retaliated soon after with their own tariffs on US energy and vehicles.The EU is also in Donald Trump’s sights, but it is unclear as to what kind of concessions he will want. Ireland is quite exposed in all this as bilateral trade with the US is hugely important - what could this all mean for our main exports and our country’s foreign direct investment?To get into the potential ramifications for Ireland and the wider global economy, host Cliff Taylor is joined by Irish Times Economic Correspondent, Eoin Burke-Kennedy, Irish Times China Correspondent, Denis Staunton and Professor of International Politics at the Clinton Institute in UCD, Scott Lucas.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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What is DeepSeek and why did it send global markets into meltdown?
On Monday, markets were in meltdown when it emerged that a Chinese app called DeepSeek had developed a low-cost AI technology that can compete with those of US giants but at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the computing power. So, who is behind DeepSeek? And what is the future for the huge valuations on Big Tech and data centre stocks in the US and Europe?For some insight on this, host Ciarán Hancock was joined by Ciara O’Brien of the Irish Times and Aidan Donnelly, head of Global equities at Davy.Earlier this week, the State sold another 5 per cent of its holding in AIB. This reduced taxpayers’ holdings to 12.5 per cent in the Irish lender, which was bailed out by the State post the 2008 financial crash. Why has the State decided to sell more shares in AIB? What do we know of Paschal Donohoe’s plan for the remaining 12.5 per cent stake? What about the cap on pay and bonuses? Joe Brennan of the Irish Times covered the story and joined us on the line to explain.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Ireland’s childcare sector is struggling, but is a State-led model the answer?
Karen Clince is CEO of Tigers Childcare, one of the biggest providers in the Irish market with 22 centres in Dublin, Cork, Kildare and Meath. She joins host Ciarán Hancock to explain the economics of running a childcare facility and give her view on proposals from the new Government to boost the sector.And Laura Slattery of the Irish Times talks us through the findings of a survey from Dublin Chamber which shows how the childcare crisis is limiting the ability of companies to recruit and retain staff, especially women, with a fifth of all companies describing it as the primary barrier to doing so.Plus, the World Economic Forum kicked off on Monday in the Swiss resort of Davos with many leading business and political leaders assembling to discuss the big global issues of the day.It’s fair to say that Donald Trump’s return to the White House overshadowed all of that. The new US president hit the ground running, issuing more than 100 executive orders on his first day in office and pulling the US from the OECD’s global corporate tax deal.That deal is very important to Ireland and could put us on a collision course with Trump’s new administration.Irish Times Economics Correspondent Eoin Burke-Kennedy joins Ciarán on the line from Davos to go through the event’s main talking points thus far.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A weekly look at business and economics from an Irish perspective hosted by Irish Times Business Editor Ciarán Hancock. Produced in association with EY. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ireland