Inside Business with Ciaran Hancock

First up on this week’s Inside Business is Ireland’s housing crisis and where it is felt most – Dublin city.

Mark Fitzgerald is chairman of the Fine Gael Commission for renewal and a non-executive director of Sherry FitzGerald Group. He joined host Cliff Taylor in studio to discuss a recent piece he wrote for the Irish Times where he highlights restrictive geography and the lack of imagination around land use and zoning as some of the key contributors to the challenging housing situation in the capital.

But what decisions led to the current scarcity of supply and what choices could be made to meet demand for future generations in the capital?

Also on this episode, the latest report from the Economic and Social Research Institute suggests Ireland is trending to fall far below the 2030 targets as set out in the Climate Action Plan.

Focusing on decarbonising Irish households, the report highlights the slow uptake in retrofitting and the installation of heat pumps. The report also points out some of the barriers preventing homeowners from taking such measures.

Muireann Lynch is a Senior Research Officer with the ESRI and co-authored the report. She joined Cliff on the line to go through the report’s key points.

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

First up on this week’s Inside Business is St Patrick’s Day. It’s just six days away but the festival itself is a four-day affair this year and will begin on Saturday.

The man in charge of this major annual undertaking is Richard Tierney, chief executive of the St Patrick’s Day festival. He joined host Ciarán Hancock in studio to discuss year-long preparations that went into the 2026 festival, what it means for the economy and the part it plays in kicking off Ireland’s tourism season.

Earlier this week, The Irish Times began an 8-week series on how to invest. Fiona Reddan is the author of the series, and she joined Ciarán in studio to discuss the thesis behind the series and the various that she will cover.

She began with a piece on how Irish people are leaving up to €172 billion on deposit with the banks, earning little or no interest.

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

As the US-Israel attacks on Iran intensify and the conflict spreads in the Middle East, the impact on the world economy is already being felt.

Ireland is already seeing motor fuel prices creep upwards, and the cost of home-heating oil soar in recent days.

Do those price increases reflect reality or are Irish consumers getting taken advantage of? Will prices continue to rise? And how soon before Donald Trump can claim victory and find a resolution?

Host Ciarán Hancock is joined in studio by Cliff Taylor of the Irish Times, professor in energy economics at UCD, Lisa Ryan, and Head of Global Equities at Davy, Aidan Donnelly.

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

First up on this week’s Inside Business are US tariffs. Last Friday, the Supreme Court there ruled that Donald Trump’s tariffs from last year via emergency legislation were illegal.

Trump responded by introducing a 10 per cent global tariff under separate legislation. So, what does this mean for Irish exporters? And what does it mean for the trade deal agreed last year with the European Union?

Cliff Taylor of The Irish Times has been writing about the tariffs decision while Pat Rigney of the Shed Distillery exports gin and whiskey to the American market, which is a huge part of his business. They explain the Supreme Court’s decision and outline what the position is right now for Irish exporters in terms of how much they will have to pay in tariffs.

Also on this episode, we look at the Central Statistics Office figures published last week that showed the number of employees working remotely declined for three successive quarters to the end of 2025. Although just shy of 1 million workers are still working from home.

Louisa Meehan is a HR expert with Woodview HRM and she joins host Ciarán Hancock on the line to tease out whether the tables have turned on hybrid working or if this is just a statistical blip.

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

Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris announced a plan this week to introduce a new savings scheme to unlock the €170 billion that people here are keeping in mostly low-yield bank deposit accounts.

His plan is to devise a scheme that generates good returns for savers in a way that puts the money on deposit to better use in the economy.

Cliff Taylor of The Irish Times covered the story this week, he joins host Ciarán Hancock in studio to assess how such a scheme might work and what might be on the table come budget time.

In the second half of this episode, we discuss how visitor numbers to Ireland were down last year, the weather in 2026 has been lousy so far and the country has been getting a reputation as a high-cost location for a holiday.

On the flip side of the coin, the Government has decided to scrap the passenger cap at Dublin Airport and has eased rules that would have banned short term holiday lets in rural locations.

Eoghan O’Mara Walsh is chief executive of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation and joined Ciarán on the line to discuss the issues facing the tourism industry this year and its likely asks of Government in the next budget.

And with St Patrick’s Day on the horizon and it being the typical starting point of the Irish tourism season, how is the year ahead shaping up for the industry?

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