Breakfast Business

In this new podcast, Life and Leadership, Bobby Kerr explores the lives of some of the most successful Irish business leaders and entrepreneurs of our time, including beauty guru Aimee Connolly and GAA star Bernard Brogan. Listen and follow the podcast now wherever you get your podcasts.

Earlier this week, the EU forecast Irish GDP to grow by 4.9% this year. However many economists disagreed with this. Joe was joined by former Chief economist with Ulster Bank, Simon Barry to debate the best measure of economic growth.

Joe Lynam takes us through the main business headlines.

Last week, Munster Technological University had to close its campus after it was subjected to a ransomware attack. Now the World Economic Forum in Switzerland is calling on all businesses to do more to tackle the issue. Joe was joined by Seán Doyle, who is the lead for cyber security at the World Economic Forum to discuss.

At the weekend the Sunday Business Post had a story about the Irish insurance industry blocking attempts to introduce a ‘right to be forgotten’ law so that long-recovered cancer survivors wouldn't have to declare anything when applying for life insurance or mortgage protection cover. The Irish cancer society says this is a major issue. Speaking to Joe this morning Denis Eustace covers life assurance with Progressive Financial Services.

As any medium-sized company will tell you, the mountain of documentation that it needs to publish every year to increase transparency but also meet new environmental and financial rules has become quite burdensome.  Now the EU hopes to create a one stop shop for businesses to share important information about the company’s products or services as well as their financial performance and green credentials. It’s called the European Single Access Point and one of the important MEPs in this issue on the ECON committee is Frances Fitzgerald MEP who joins spoke to Joe this morning.

A run-through of some of the business stories today with Joe Lynam.

Defined benefits Pensions are deemed the best to have because they base your annual workplace pension on a proportion of your salary when you retire. That’s why they are often known as Final salary schemes. They’re very expensive to fund and have been in deficit in many companies for years. Now the HR consultants Mercer estimate that there could be in surplus this year for listed Irish companies with DB pension schemes Peter Gray is from Mercer consultants and spoke to Joe this morning.

The biannual international business report from Grant Thornton is out. It paints a worrying picture of business confidence in Ireland in the latter half of 2022. But is it dated already in light of the positive start to this year. Speaking to Joe this morning was Andrew Webb the Chief Economist with Grant Thornton.

A look at today's business papers and markets with Joe Lynam.

 You don't have to have spent too much time in Ireland to realise that there’s an abundance of wind. Enough even to power the nation and a few others perhaps. But while Offshore wind has great potential it’s not being rolled out at a speed desired by government, environmental campaigners or those wishing to wean us off fossil fuels. Now the legal profession is starting to gear up for the rapid expansion in Offshore wind. Clark Hill have set up a special part of their business in Ireland for is and Aidan Eames runs that Offshore Wind Practice

While bank lending to companies still commands the lion's share of funding for Irish business, venture capital is growing in importance and is actively encouraged by the EU through its Capital Markets Union legislation. The latest investment pulse shows a worrying drop in overseas investors in Ireland - down 47% in the final quarter. Is there something big going on we should worry about? To discuss further Joe was joined by Sarah-Jane Larkin, Director General of the Irish Venture Capital Association.

Business Editor Joe Lynam takes a run through of some of the business stories today.

 As any parent will tell you, children are your greatest joy and your greatest worry. Some kids don't develop as quickly as they’d like and some don't speak as well as their peers. Now an Irish start up is working on that problem. It’s called Daisy Plays and Hannah O'Driscoll is the founder and joined Joe on the show live from New York.

We often talk about the housing crisis. We refer to building costs and planning delays and NIMBYs and political inaction but perhaps new technology in construction might help alleviate the problem. A new paper from EY this week seems to think so. So what can we do to speed up a building without adding cost or diluting quality. Sean Downey, Director of Specialist Contracting, Construction Industry Federation joined Joe on the show this morning.

A run-through of some of the business stories this Friday morning with Business Editor Joe Lynam and Aidan Donnelly from Davys.

You've heard the pitch before. Come to the North West for a quality of life far removed from the commuting and chaos of the city. It was especially appealing during lockdowns but many employers have been hauling their staff back into the office in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and other cities. Now there’s a concerted effort to persuade individuals as well as companies to relocate to counties like Sligo, Mayo and Donegal and there’s a big conference hoping to do exactly that starting later today in Dublin. But is it a tough sell? Speaking to Joe was Allan Mulrooney is the interim CEO of the Western Development Commission and also Keith Moran from SL Controls is making a big announcement itself today.

Ireland is an expensive place. It’s considerably pricier than the Eurozone average for food and drinks in restaurants and our hotels and guesthouses aren't cheap either. Now the Association of Irish Professional Conference Organisers is worried that this will scare many business tourists away For more on this Joe was joined on the show by Greg Carew is the Vice chair of the AIPCO.

A run-through of some of the business stories today with Newstalk's Business Editor Joe Lynam.

There’s a new piece of legislation on the way, which will check all foreign direct investment money coming into Ireland from outside the EEA. Sectors such as infrastructure and data protection, as well as some financial services will have to get the blessing of the enterprise minister before they can transfer money into Irish entities. It’s all part of a wider EU legislation to weed out money laundering and white-collar crime. Carol Slattery is a Competition lawyer with Eversheds Sutherland