Breakfast Business

Last week the government said it was set to spend €100bn over the next 5 years on infrastructure. Most of that will go on housing and water but the urgency on expanding the electricity grid was highlighted when Amazon walked away from a giant project because ESB networks couldn't guarantee the power for it. Now the energy suppliers Pinergy say that demand for electricity will grow by 66% by 2050 and based on the current trajectory and that demand won't be met with adequate supply. Enda Gunnell chief executive of Pinergy joined Joe Lynam on the show.

The newly merged Smurfit Westrock's is the world's largest listed packaging partner. Today they published their 2nd quarter consolidated results and they posted a net loss of $26m on sales of just under $8bn but an EBITDA of $1.2bn. The fact that it operates across 42 countries with paper and cardboard 67 mills means it should be shielded from the de-globalisation brought on by Donald Trump's tariff wars. Ken Bowles, chief financial officer with Smurfit Westrock joined Joe Lynam on the show.

Joe Lynam takes a run through Wednesday's business news headlines.

District heating is where local homes and businesses get their heating from a single building in the area which itself gets that energy from renewable sources such as heat pumps or solar. Ireland has the lowest amount of renewably sourced heat in all of Europe. The Scandinavians are streets ahead of us. Copenhagen has 3000km of pipework for district heating - while Dublin has only 2.  But fear not only 2 weeks ago the very first district heating scheme was announced in Ireland and it's good news for my next guest who specialises in it having lived in Denmark for many years. David Connolly, chief executive of HeatGrid.ie and the Newstalk Green Biz person of the month with Repak joined Joe Lynam on the show.

Poolbeg Pharma, named after the infamous Red & white towers has been working on some very exciting new ideas including a new cancer immunity drug and a potential weight loss tablet. But most early drug developments fail to make it to the final round of testing on humans because it’s so risky and so expensive.  And what does a pharma company like Poolbeg make of the EU-US trade deal with its 15% tariffs thus far? Jeremy Skillington, is the chief executive of Poolbeg pharma and joined Joe Lynam on the show this morning.

Joe Lynam takes a run through Wednesday's business news headlines.

Last week the government said that the tax cutting package in the October budget would be €1.5bn but that almost ⅔ of that would go to the hospitality sector in order to cut VAT rates for it back down to 9%. My next guest will be one of the beneficiaries of that but, because all his clients are companies, won't be doing any profit taking - he assures me. He runs entertainment and catering for business tourists from all over the world. He even provides the catering for movie sets such as the TV series Wednesday and Ireland now earns around €1bn a year from business tourism. Andrew Rudd is the owner of Medley and joined Joe Lynam on the show this morning.

Joe Lynam was joined by John Alistair the former Director of International Affairs for the EU Commission and Head of the EU Delegation to the WTO as well as the UN. He’s a Senior Trade negotiator and now a lecturer and consultant. He knows a fair bit about international trade and yesterday he described the EU trade deal with the US as ‘the worst trade deal ever’. But what does he really think? 

Joe Lynam takes a run through Tuesday's business news headlines.

Joe Lynam takes a run through Monday's business news headlines with Russ Mould of AJ Bell.

With the rising cost of hiring as well as rents and insurance, it’s no surprise that many companies outsource their customer services overseas.  My next guest operates call centres for a number of Ireland based businesses to India and the Philippines.  But increasingly he is developing an AI operated voice service for his customers in order to cut his price tags for Irish clients.  How does it work and how believable are AI assistants? Niresh Moodley is the Chief executive of Your Team

So we’ve reached a trade deal with the US. All physical European goods will now face a 15% tariff while Americans will pay almost nothing to be sold here. Is it a trade deal or a trade capitulation and what will it mean for our companies selling in the States or American giants based here. My next guest is the chair of the IDA but is also a director on the board of the drink giant C&C as well as the wealth managers Yuno Energy. Feargal O'Rourke, Chair of the IDA joined Joe Lynam on the show.

All the business news and markets this Friday along with Joe Lynam and Aidan Donnelly from Davys.

Ireland has among the least developed and most overused infrastructure in Europe.  The Government will spend €100bn to build the railways, roads and water infrastructure that the nation needs.  But we don't have a great track record when it comes to building stuff while we are past masters of objecting to the construction of nearly everything.  All to discuss with Kaine Lynch works for the infrastructure consultants Turner & Townsend.

Yesterday the government set out 26 actions to cut our astonishingly high insurance premiums down including legal reforms to reduce high payouts in the courts.  Seán Fitzgerald, is a partner with HOMS assist represents people who have been negligence victims. Especially in the case of industrial accidents.  What does he make of the reforms? Seán Fitzgerald discussed with Joe this morning.

Drones are the technological equivalent of the airplane a century ago. Manna Drones delivering food in the West Dublin area. But plans to expand to other parts of the city have faced huge resistance from locals who don't like the buzzing sounds.  Are we about to shoo away a genuine business technology company or can planning rows be surmounted? All to discuss with Bobby Healy the Chief Executive of Manna Drone Delivery. 

The government has launched a consultation to expand the Critical Skills Occupations List that can be fast-tracked into the country when it comes to getting a work permit.  But where will they all live is also the question. Speaking to Joe this morning was Alan Dillon is the Minister of State at the department of Enterprise with special responsibility for small business who has also launched a new strategic review of the WRC.

Joe Lynam takes a run through Thursday's business news headlines.

SCARP is the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process and was designed to cut the costs and timeframes for SMEs needing to be restructured or wound up.  It’s been around in full for 4 years but the take up has been lower than expected.  Many insolvency professionals say that's because the Revenue the nation’s biggest creditor is not using it and has an effective Veto on using SCARPs.  But is that true? All to discuss with Paddy Purtill, Principal Officer in the Collector Generals, Revenue.

Legislation to force all drink companies to include health warning labels on all bottles of alcohol has been postponed due to the additional costs it would impose on smaller producers.  It’s a small welcome break for whiskey makers who are facing a perfect storm of falling alcohol consumption among young people and potentially huge tariffs on the American market. Joe was joined on the show this morning by Eoin O’Cathain the Director of the Irish Whiskey Association.