Breakfast Business

A look back at the business stories of the week with Economist Austin Hughes. 

Workers in the Irish aircraft leasing business each earned €206,000 on average last year, new figures show.  The Republic is home to the world’s top aviation lessors, but what is behind the success?   All to discuss with Patrick Blaney, Former Chief Executive of Guinness Peat Aviation. 

This year’s Aer Lingus College Football Classic game between Kansas and Iowa State University will take place on August 23rd in the Aviva Stadium.  And while the two teams will battle to see who wins and who loses, Ireland looks to be victorious either way, generating over 130 million euros for the economy from the event.  To tell us more about what we can expect, Emmet was joined by Padraic O’Kane, Co-Founder and Director of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. 

Certa has announced the opening of its 25th hydrotreated vegetable oil site in Ireland, in response to the rising demand for renewable fuel.  But what is the potential of HVO in Ireland for households and businesses?   Emmet spoke to Kevin McPartland, Chief Executive of Fuels for Ireland. 

While the US and EU have struck a deal on tariffs that seems to be holding, a dark cloud remains over the future of pharma in Ireland. Despite assertions from the European Commission that the deal would bring clarity and certainty to pharma exporters, confusion reigns.   All to discuss with Brendan Murphy, Tax Partner at Baker Tilly Ireland.

Thursday's business news headlines with Emmet Oliver.

Joe Lynam takes a look at Wednesday's business headlines.

The billionaire Dermot Desmond said that the Metrolink in Dublin would be obsolete by the time it opens due to the arrival of autonomous vehicles and advanced AI.  While that ignores the fact that it would clog up the roads even further, it did shine a light on whether technology is moving so fast that we won't be driving our own cars in the near future. All to discuss with Stephen Prendiville an Infrastructure Partner with Deloitte.  

A century ago only a quarter of the population had any electricity at all and few had running water.  The newly independent State had little or no money but little it had it bet the house on one project: the building of the then largest hydro electric plant in Europe at Ardnacrusha in Co Clare.  Today is the 100th anniversary exactly of the turning of the first sod to build that plant which provided enough electricity for the entire nation a century ago.  JOw spoke to Brendan Shine  is the Plant Manager for ESB at the world famous Ardnacrusha Generating Station.

The one positive from the Trump tariff war has been the urgent need for Irish exporters to find new markets to sell to and wean itself off its US dependency.  One possible region could be the Middle East which imports 85% of everything they consume. That means that Irish food and pharma could find new customers. Joe discusses this further with Enda Corneille, is the chair of the Arab-Irish Chamber of Commerce which holds a big conference on this subject in Sept 

Goldman Sachs has put out a paper which said that the vast majority of Trump’s new tariffs are being paid by US importers with only a fraction being paid by Exporters into the US.  It also predicted that inflation was set to rise notably this Autumn in the US thanks to these tariffs. So what is the mood music out there? All to discuss with Allie Renison Partner with SEC Newgate and also an adviser to the Institute of Directors. 

Tuesday's business news headlines with Joe Lynam.

Russ Mould from AJ Bell brings us through Monday's business headlined with Joe Lynam.

How would you like a middle rate of income tax at 30%?  Or capital gains tax to be slashed from 33 to 20%? Or perhaps a new fund to support companies affected by Donald Trump’s new 15% tariff regime?  Well, all of these things are on the wish list of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce ahead of this autumn’s budget. All to discuss with Aidan Finnegan from the BICC. 

EXL is a large data and AI company originally from America.  It advises many banks and healthcare providers on how to use the terabytes of data that they collect every month.  But increasingly it’s joining the crowd by moving into the AI space and in furtherance of that has chosen Dublin for a new AI innovation and research hub.  It’ll be announced by the Tánaiste later today and in attendance will be the Head of International for EXL in Ireland, Rowan McGrath who joined Joe this morning on the show.

The Mace Group have built the London Eye, the Shard and the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.  Closer to home it helped build Terminal 2 here in Ireland and is now working with Uisce Eireann to bring our water infrastructure up to the 21st century.  It already has 100 people working on the Metrolink to Swords. But what’s it like bidding for big projects here which face horrendous delays and challenges?  All to discuss with Frank Randles is the Country Manager with the Mace Group.

Roughly 70% of all brides-to-be get some sort of hair extensions on their big day. Emma King is the Founder of Cascata and bridal stylist, and she imports real human hair for this booming industry. Emma joined Joe this morning on the show to chat about her business.  

Friday's business news headlines along with Joe Lynam and Kate English Chief Economist with Deloitte.

Coffee is one of those inelastic goods that increases in price without seeing a commensurate fall off in demand.  Many of us need the stuff to kick start the day.  But the price of it then doubled on the commodities markets between Oct last year and March this year amid issues with supply from major producers such as Brazil.  Velo Coffee roasts its own blends in County Cork and now supplies most of the major supermarkets. Joining Joe on the show was Rob Horgan, is the founder and boss of Velo Coffee.

The EU US trade and tariff framework, which we can't call a deal because there’s nothing in writing, looks increasingly in jeopardy.  The 15% tariffs are way too high according to many business lobby groups and could severely damage American markets for European companies.  So what could and should European companies do? All to discuss with Ben Butters the Director General of EuroChambers.