Breakfast Business

Any company that physically manufactures stuff might be interested in a brand new course being offered by DCU alongside SETU which used to be Carlow IT. It’s called Advanced manufacturing industry 4.0 and students will learn virtually how to test materials and even produce them using 3D printing. It’s an exciting new way of learning and you could end up with a Masters Equivalent qualification. Speaking to Joe this morning was David Culliton, Programme Director and Course Lead at SETU.

Electricity prices for most households almost doubled last year after energy prices spiked following the invasion of Ukraine. While wholesale prices have retreated back to almost normal levels, Irish consumers have not seen the benefit yet of lower prices. Perhaps competition is what the market needs. Today sees the launch of Yuno Energy and Cathal Fay the chief executive of the company joined Joe on the show this morning.

A look at today's business papers and websites with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

Earlier this week we spoke to the boss of Molson Coors the American brewing giant who was set to dispense with CVs for certain types of jobs. Instead, they would ask applicants to submit a video about themselves for jobs. Is that helping people with less formal education or hindering those who might be shy and not great at selling themselves on video? Mike McDonagh from Sigmar Recruitment joined Joe to discuss.

According to Eurostat, Ireland is officially the most expensive country in the EU. This probably won't shock those of you who’ve just returned from Spain or Portugal from your holidays. But is it that much more expensive than other places? Uptin Saiidi is a renowned vlogger who travels around the world seeing how far $100 can get you in some of the world’s biggest cities. He was recently in Dublin and managed to eat, drink, and be entertained for that sum which is roughly €92. Uptin told Joe how he got on.

A look at today's business papers and markets with Aidan Donnelly from Davys.

Breakfast Business has done some digging into the impact on the overall Irish economy if you were to strip out the Dublin economy from average incomes. Including the capital, GDP per capita at current prices in 2020 in Ireland stood at €75,000. Remove Dublin from that equation and the number drops to €60,000. The number minus Dublin for GVA or Gross value added is even lower. It all shows that without the capital city, Ireland would be a significantly poorer place. But is that an unavoidable reality or something to be worked on? Speaking to Joe this morning was Prof Jim Walsh, Professor Emeritus of Geography and a former Vice-President of Maynooth University. He recently published a book on income disparity between urban and rural dwellers.

As Ireland prepares for the rugby world cup next month, they are using new technology to enable it to review the tiniest of mistakes on the training ground in almost real-time. Ireland is the first rugby nation to use a pitchside mobile private network alongside drones to improve rucking, line-outs, passing etc. Joe visited the National Sports Campus in Blanchardstown to see the new kit and met a few of the players.

A look at today's business papers and websites with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

There are many street food festivals springing up all over the country. They include the Big Grill festival in Dublin starting tomorrow, which is sponsored by the Franciscan Well brewery from Cork. It’s one of the many international brands owned and distributed by the American brewing giant, Molson Coors, which also owns Miller and Coors beer. Laura Lee the head of Molson Coors here in Ireland spoke to Joe this morning.

30 years ago China was a mid-ranking emerging economy that posed no strategic threat to Europe or America. Today it’s the second-largest economy in the world and very much a military and economic rival to the West. But since the pandemic, China’s economy hasn't been firing on all cylinders. It is officially deflating and the central bank has to slash interest rates to stoke up demand. There are also fears of a property crash under a mountain of debt. Speaking to Joe on the issues facing China was Janet Mui from RBC Brewin Dolphin.

A look at today's business papers and websites with Joe Lyanm Newstalk's Business Editor.

Germany used to be known as the engine of Europe. One which often dragged other smaller economies upwards. But the engine is in need of service these days. The economy is set to shrink this year and is already in a technical recession. Much of that lies in the mounting costs for 1 million Ukrainian refugees as well as the weakness of one of its export markets in Asia notably China. But some of the reasons are deeper and structural because Ireland exports €24 billion to Germany, it matters to us. With more on this, Joe was joined by Derek Scally the Germany Correspondent for the Irish Times.

The importance of cloud computing cannot be overstressed. How many companies store their data locally on hard drives? How many people buy physical copies of whatever software they need? No, we mostly use the cloud for software as a service and easy access to customer data. But what happens if the Cloud fails or is hacked and becomes inaccessible? A new survey found that three-quarters of IT leaders admit that a ‘cloud outage’ would be “catastrophic” for their business. It was carried out by the cloud computing business Auxilion and its founder and CEO is Philip Maguire.

A look at today's business papers and websites with Newstalk Busines Editor Joe Lynam.

We live and work in a knowledge economy where our skillset needs to be constantly updated. But a LinkedIn survey noted that “getting employees to make time for learning” was the number one barrier to upskilling. Is Microlearning one of the solutions where we do plenty of small courses at a time that suits the employees rather than the boss? Speaking to Joe this morning was Matteo Penzo the founder of Zick Learn which is an Irish-based microlearning platform.

Last week the Government published its latest AI strategy including investment in talent and the creation of proper regulation but what about companies? What should they do to ensure their staff isn't using AI to write reports, design logos and even interact with customers? The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development wants to set out rules of the road for HR managers to ensure that workers know what is expected of them. Mary Connaughton is the Director of the CIPD and discuss this further with Joe this morning.

A look at today's business papers and websites with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

Ireland has set itself a very tough target of having 80% of its energy mix from renewable sources by the end of this decade. To achieve that it needs lots of big new infrastructure including interconnectors with other countries. One of the biggest is currently at the planning stage and will allow Britain and Ireland to share whatever surplus renewable energy they have with each other. Speaking to Joe this morning Simon Ludlam is the Chief Executive of the company that is going to lay that subsea cable called MaresConnect.

Apart from our own banks with their inglorious recent past, we know a lot about UK banks but very little about continental European banks. The biggest in Europe is BNP Paribas these days and this year it is celebrating 50 years here in Ireland. But would the French bank ever be tempted into lending home loans or even credit cards here? All issues for Derek Kehoe, Chief Executive of BNP Paribas Ireland who joined Joe on the show this morning.