Breakfast Business

It’s Oscar and movie awards season soon and for the first time there’s a very real chance that an Irish language film could win major gongs. If You haven't seen An Cailin Ciuin, make it your business. You’ll be thinking about it for weeks afterwards. It’s one of the films funded in part by the broadcasting authority of Ireland. And it comes as the banshees of Inisheerin stands a great chance of picking up a handful of Oscars as well. It also comes as the next round of funding for Irish production companies goes live. Stephanie Comey, Assistant CEO of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland spoke to Joe on the show.

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

We’ve got an idea now of how many companies failed last year. Needless to say the number is substantially up on the previous year when firms were protected by Government support during lockdowns. According to the PwC barometer, the number of insolvencies last year stood at 527 - up 39% on 2021. But that number could rise substantially this year. Ken Tyrrell, PwC Ireland Business Recovery Partner discussed these figures with Joe.

Almost ¾ of a million Irish homes are heated using oil. That meant that our households were especially vulnerable to the oil price shock - brought upon by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It means that the Government has had to step in and subsidise energy bills for millions. But what if there was a renewable equivalent of oil that could be used to wean us off that dependency? Speaking to Joe this morning was David Blevins the Ireland country managing for OFTEC - which represents the companies that make liquid fuel storage tanks among them: Kingspan.

A look at Monday's business news and markets with joe Lynam.

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

Benefit in kind is a tax on perks and is usually applied to the new value of a free company car. As of this week though, the amount of benefit in kind payable by employees for owning a company car has jumped to just shy of €300 a month for an average car. It’s led to many cBenefit in kind is a tax on perks and is usually applied on the new value of a free company car. As of this week though, the amount of benefit in kind payable by employees for owning a company car has jumped to just shy of €300 a month for an average car. It’s led to many employees offering to hand back their company cars, usually leased, to avoid the tax. David Kavanagh is the Vice president of the Vehicle Leasing association of Ireland, which are usually leased, to avoid the tax. David Kavanagh is the Vice president of the Vehicle Leasing Association of Ireland

 18000 jobs at Amazon are being cut while Salesforce is slashing 10% of its worldwide workforce. The Technology Winter or tech wreck shows no sign of abating. Salesforce which makes the office messaging system Slack - are due to move into a gleaming new office in the Docklands - built to accommodate 3000 people. So there is especially concerning in Ireland. So what’s going on? Jenny Darmody is the editor of Ireland’s technology bible Silicon Republic and joined Joe this morning.

How many business cards have you handed out over the past decade or 2? Hundreds or if you're in sales: thousands. But how many of us who receive business cards discard or lose them immediately? An Irish company has come up with a clever way to share your details with someone digitally and dispense with cards. Speaking to Joe this morning was Mark Gibbons from Tapitag.

The temperature in Warsaw on New Year's day was an astonishing 19 degrees Celsius. The normal temperature at this time of year is 4 degrees. Apart from underlining how real climate change has become in Europe, it also means that many companies and consumers won't need to use as much gas from natural gas reserves as many of us had feared due to the embargo on Russian energy. Daniel Kral – Senior economist with Oxford Economics spoke to Joe on the show this morning.

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

If you are living outside of Ireland or have just returned from living abroad and are thinking of setting up a business, there’s a Government-run scheme that aims to help returned emigrants. The idea is to fund training workshops and guidance mentors to help get over some of the red tape that start-ups encounter. It’s called Back to Business and it’s run by Paula Fitzsimons from Fitzsimons Consulting who joined Joe this morning on the show.

Yesterday the IMF said that most of Europe will see a recession this year but most experts think that Ireland may avoid it. It doesn't mean that we’ll have a smooth 2023 or that the coalition government won't have problems. To discuss the economic and political backdrop of the new year, Joe spoke to the renowned economist, academic, author, government adviser, and journalist Colm McCarthy.

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

2022 was a momentous year for the markets with war and inflation being the two key words which we thought belonged to distant decades. But they're both back. Stock markets were buoyant 12 months ago but would be hammered by the end of the year as interest rates and the cost of everything jumped. So what can we expect this new year? Paul Sommerville - Sam.IE brought us a proper preview.

At one point in the first quarter of 2022, house prices rose at a percentage rate in the mid-teens. Rents rose by an astonishing 11% last year. All signs of a booming property market or perhaps even evidence of a bubble about to burst. The first MyHome.ie residential survey is out and it says we’ll avoid another property crash Conall MacCoille is the author of the Myhome.ie survey and is the Chief Economist with Davys spoke to Joe this morning.

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

Given how dreadful cryptocurrencies have performed this year, it’s not difficult to link the words Crypto with manure or poo or other less family-friendly words. But there’s also a practical reason. Mining for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is very energy intensive since you need whole server farms working 24 hours a day to solve a problem and earn coins. But one company has developed a way of using manure to power that mining. It’s called easy Crypto hunter and Josh Riddett is the founder and joined Joe Lynam on the show.

Earlier this week Ryanair announced 4 new routes out of Belfast International Airport in a vote of confidence in the 2nd largest airport on the island of Ireland. Will it create jobs and investment into NI and will it encourage more flying when we should all be flying a bit less? Graham Keddie, Managing Director, Belfast International Airport joined Joe Lynam on the show.

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