Breakfast Business

t’s rare that people put the word ‘affordable’ in the same sentence when talking about Ireland but we are one of the least expensive places to start a business. According to the digital or neo bank Bunq.  Ireland supposedly has low advisory costs and low corporation taxes of course, which compare favourably with other EU countries. To tell us more Joe was joined by Bianca Zwart is the chief strategy officer with BUNQ.

Supermarkets are a vital part of our modern lives and yet they consume a lot of energy. Transporting goods from all over the world to the shelves or keeping goods chilled or frozen for consumers. Lidl says that it will soon open Ireland’s first net zero supermarket in Maynooth co Kildare using solar panels and using concrete comprising 50% recycled materials. But will it lure any more customers who might still only care about price?  All to ask Robert Ryan is the CEO of Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland. 

Joe Lynam takes a look at Thursday's business news headlines.

Daryl Byrne, Chief Executive of Euronext Dublin, investor Cathal Friel, and Aidan Donnelly of Davys join Breakfast Business live from the Dublin Stock Exchange to talk market trends, building heritage, and the outlook for Irish capital markets.Listen here

Joe Lynam brings you all the business news in the papers today, live from the Dublin Stock Exchange.

Joe Lynam takes a run through this morning;s news headlines.

An estimated 44,000 people in Ireland get cancer every single year. One of the side effects of chemotherapy is hair loss which can be mentally and physically upsetting for many patients. Aaron Hannon runs a business with 52 staff in Galway which prevents hair loss during chemotherapy.  Aaron Hannon is the founder of Luminate Medical and Aaron joined Joe this morning on the show.

Africa is the fastest growing continent in population terms and increasingly important for Ireland as it seeks new trading markets. In fact, we export as much to Africa as we do to Australia, New Zealand and South America combined. But the issues of governance and corruption remain. Today Ireland hosts the Africa-Ireland Trade Horizons conference and chairing it will be Minister of State at the Department of foreign affairs Neale Richmond.

Kathleen Brooks from XTB joined Joe this morning to look through this morning business news stories.

Nowadays increasingly schools want everything to be digitised as well as keeping kids away from social media during school hours. My next guest Ian Gaughran from Olive for Education  provides laptops to schools with strong firewalls to prevent them being used for anything other than academic purposes.  He also provide something called a “learning wallet” for holistic training tools for students. Ian joined Joe this morning.

Food Village provides warm food to hundreds of secondary schools and third level institutions in Ireland. Food Village allows students, parents, and teachers to pick their lunches using an app.  And sometimes if you leave it too late it uses AI and your previous choices to pick the meals for you.  .  But how do you avoid dreadful food waste and how do you source healthy options that kids will actually eat? Richie Nangle, CEO, Food Village explains all to Joe.

Have you been enjoying the sunshine?  Well not only is it good for the mind and the mood, it’s also good for the wallet if you have solar panels which earn you money. And even though we don't get that much sunshine our capability of generating energy from it has soared by 48% over the past year to 1.7GW.  Of that 50% comes from solar farms and 33% from domestic rooftops known as microgeneration.  Ronan Power is the Chief Executive of Solar Ireland joined Joe this morning.

Daniel Lawson runs one of the biggest babysitting platforms in the world connecting childminders with 6 million customers worldwide.  It makes money on a subscription service or a flat fee of 30% on top of what the babysitter wants per hour. Daniel Lawson, is Head of Strategy with babysits.ie.

Kate English from Deloitte brings us all the business news along with Joe Lynam.

There are an estimated 600 million people with diabetes worldwide. As we eat more and live longer that number will doubtless grow. It means glucose levels need to be measured regularly and at scale.  Dexcom is one of the biggest device makers in the world and they announced a huge investment in a greenfield site in Athenry which is set to open next year.  Dexcom is also a sponsor of one of Ireland’s newest golfing talents Alan Nolan who himself is a diabetic.Joining Joe this morning was Adrian Furey, is VP Global Supply Chain with Dexcom. 

Joe Lynam brings us Thursday's business news review.

Profits could be hit by tariffs on large US multinationals and as such our golden goose ie Corporation tax receipts could be affected. We may also end up building fewer houses again this year than expected. However on the upside the domestic economy remains robust and inflation should remain low in the coming months.  These are the views of the Central Bank of Ireland, which today published its latest quarterly bulletin. Speaking to Joe this morning was Martin O'Brien, Head of Division of Irish Economic Analysis with the Central bank of Ireland.

We are heading for a country where the vast majority of its citizens and companies have access to full fibre high-speed broadband. Only this week EIR achieved a milestone of 1.4 million premises being covered with its full fibre meaning that 3.6 million people can download their movies or fat files that bit faster.  Speaking to Joe this morning was Maeve O’Malley the Managing Director of open EIR Wholesale which is that bit of the business that deals with wholesale customers and infrastructure. 

Joe Lynam brings us Wednesday's business headlines and news.

The Enterprise Forum was set up in 2017 to provide a platform for companies to share their concerns with the Government directly.  Initially it discussed Brexit then Covid and now it meets to analyse what the government can do to shield Irish businesses from US trade tariffs. As well as the soaring cost of doing business in Ireland.  The forum meets again today and at the table will be Alan Dillon who is the Minister of State at the Dept of Enterprise.The Minister spoke to Joe ahead of today's forum.