Breakfast Business

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

Last November, the EU pass legislation called the Digital Services Act which applied new stricter controls on all content published in Europe by the big tech giants - aimed at preventing abuse, harm and misselling. Now in the next stage of the DSA, the Digital services Commissioner Thierry Breton has ‘designated’ or published guidelines for big Technology. So for example, the algorithms, which decide what we see and read on those sites, will be inspected by the Commission’s own in-house experts at the EU’s new Centre for Algorithmic Transparency. Johannes Bahrke works for the European Commission in this area and joined Joe on the show this morning.

The annual review of food production and farming in this country has been published by Teagaisc and Chartered Surveyors. As you can imagine the invasion of Ukraine played a huge role on fertilizer and energy prices. The price of farmland was also up but by less than domestic property. So what does it all mean for food producers this year? Edward Mc Auley, Director of Practice & Policy for the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland spoke to Joe on the show this morning on the findings of the report.

Private equity is the catch-all description for when wealthy individuals usually with experience take stakes in private or listed companies. They often use their stakes to turn businesses around or simply improve them in order to sell their holdings for a profit. The lawyers Taylor Wessing has assessed the Irish private equity market and found that there was a flight to quality and less risky companies last year. Speaking to Joe this morning was Adam Griffiths who is an M&A partner at Taylor Wessing and head of its Dublin office.

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

Ballygowan is Ireland’s best-known indigenous water brand and is bottled in Newcastle Co Limerick. Up to now that plant has run on energy from a variety of sources most of which used fossil fuels. That’s about to change. Britvik which owns Ballygowan, has signed a deal with Flogas to use only renewable energy from a wind farm in neighbouring Co Galway. Speaking to Joe this morning on the show was Sian Young, Director of Sustainable Business at Britvic Ireland.

20 years ago, the supermarket chain Lidl had less than one percent of the Irish grocery market. Now it has 13%. It’s growing at such a pace that it has built one of the biggest warehousing and distribution centres on the island of Ireland in Mullingar. That facility is nine times the size of the Aviva Stadium, and now it has put solar panels on the roof to supply 20% of its sizable energy requirements. Alan Barry, Chief Development Officer at Lidl Ireland

Business Editor Joe Lynam takes a run through of some of the business stories today.

The annual conference for the Irish League of credit unions takes place this weekend and one of the major themes of the get-together will be consumer protections but also increased competition in the world of financial services David Malone Chief Executive of the Irish League of Credit Unions spoke to Joe on the show this morning ahead of the conference.

Fake adverts, bogus claims, and even fraud On or Offline all come under the microscope of the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland. But there are so many adverts out there that the ASAI don't have enough human eyeballs to monitor them. Now they’re using AI and software to scour the web for breaches. To explain how and why they are doing it this way, Joe spoke to Orla Twomey - the Chief Executive of the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland.

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

The budget retailer Penneys - known as Primark in the UK - has launched its first ‘Pulse of the Nation' Index to gauge consumer behaviour here in Ireland. Gerard O’Neill is the chair of Amarach Research which carried out the study for Penney's and Gerard joined Joe on the show to discuss some of the findings of this report.

What started life as a restaurant and family business in East Cork has developed into a big international business for Ballymaloe Foods. From pasta sauces to mayonnaise to meat sauces and its famous relishes, Ballymaloe can now add a further accolade to the trophy cabinet. Its relish has won the much-coveted Snacking d’Or award. Speaking to Joe this morning on the show was Maxine Hyde the General Manager of Ballymaloe Foods.

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

The logistics and industrial property market include distribution, warehouses, and all manner of industrial space used by companies. The latest report from Savile’s suggests that the Dublin market is still very strong despite soaring interest rates and inflation concerns. However, margins have been squeezed. To discuss the findings of the report Joe spoke to Jarlath Lynn, Director of Industrial and Logistics with Savills Ireland.

There are 70,000 Brazilians living here and incredibly 1300 Brazilian-owned companies here. They've now set up a Brazil-Ireland chamber of commerce to help bring both nations together economically. Speaking to Joe on the show this morning was Fernanda Hermanson the President of the Brazil-Ireland Chamber of Commerce.

A look at today's business papers and markets with Business Editor Joe Lynam and Dan Moroney from RBC Brewin Dolphin Ireland.

This time yesterday we were speaking about Bank Of Ireland apologising for a blunder that has impacted 35,000 new customers who had their mortgages with the now departed KBC bank. The issue has highlighted the importance of the central credit register and how it affects whether or not you can get a loan if there are any gaps in that Registry. To discuss this further Joe was joined on the show by Charlie Weston Personal Finance Editor at the Irish Independent.

The Irish offshore, wind, energy aspirations are certainly ambitious, but without the physical infrastructure to create that renewable energy and transport it around the country and overseas, those targets and goals will be meaningless. A report out today, says that investment in the sector is hampered by inflation and rising interest rates, as well as the lack of infrastructure and Irish ports to support floating wind turbines. Paul Doherty from Gavin & Doherty GeoSolutions is the author of the study and Paul spoke to Joe with more on these findings of the report.

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