Inside Business with Ciaran Hancock

This week Accenture announced they are to cut a further 890 staff from their Irish workforce. The news comes just months after their last round of redundancies, which saw 400 staff let go from the company in March. To discuss the job losses, the reaction from staff and the wider issues facing the tech sector, Ciarán Hancock is joined by Ian McArdle, Deputy Secretary General of the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) and by Phil Codd, Managing Director of Expleo in Ireland. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s episode of Inside Business, Director General of the International Air Transport Association, Willie Walsh, and Founder and managing director of Tour America and Cruise Holidays, Mary McKenna, join Ciarán Hancock to discuss where the aviation sector finds itself post-Covid.Has air travel demand fully recovered? Are fares going to continue to rise? And will sustainable aviation fuel be the key to net zero emissions across the sector by 2050? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will Government’s plan for a 20c tax on disposable coffee cups have the desired effect or could it end up hurting businesses? On this week’s episode of Inside Business, co-owner of Olive’s Room restaurant and co-founder of Vytal Ireland, Michelle Moloughney, gives Cliff Taylor her thoughts on the divisive levy. And Irish Times business and technology journalist Ciara O’Brien on why she has been writing about Irish tech firm Intercom. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s episode of Inside Business with Ciarán Hancock, Chief Economist at Davy, Conall MacCoille, explains why labour shortages and capacity pressures are putting the brakes on growth in some sectors here. And Irish Times Economics Correspondent Eoin Burke-Kennedy runs through the headline details from both the exchequer receipts and the Summer Economic Statement.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s episode of Inside Business with Ciarán Hancock, IDA chief executive Michael Lohan tells us how housing, energy supply and a ready pipeline of new talent are need to keep Foreign Direct Investment flowing into the country. Michael and EY partner Feargal de Freine discuss a new report from EY covering 44 European countries on where Ireland sits in the competition for foreign direct investment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the European Central Bank raising rates to a 22-year high, should Sinn Féin’s proposal for an introduction of mortgage interest relief be entertained by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien?Brendan Burgess, founder of the consumer forum, askaboutmoney.com, thinks it is a poorly thought-out plan. As he tells host Ciarán Hancock, despite the increases in mortgage rates, most mortgage holders are not in distress and can cope with the higher interest. And with corporation tax receipts likely to exceed €26 billion this year, €2 billion more than the Department of Finance is currently forecasting, should that equate to a bumper giveaway budget come October, or will a lid be put on spending?Eoin Burke-Kennedy, Economics Correspondent with the Irish Times, explains that perhaps following the Norwegian model of sovereign wealth is the way to go given our growing surplus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the latest CSO figures pointing to data centres in the Republic using as much electricity as urban households last year despite an effective moratorium on new connections to the grid in the Greater Dublin Area, does the proliferation of data centres here in recent times represent a real threat to our carbon emissions goals?Ciaran Hancock is joined by Irish Times Business Reporter Ian Curran to talks us through what those latest CSO figures mean, while Director of Cloud Infrastructure Ireland, Michael McCarthy and Energy Researcher at UCC, Paul Deane, give the pros and cons of so many data centres setting up here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fifteen years on from the 2008 financial crash, a new accountability regime is due to come into force in Ireland for senior executives in the financial services industry here. In March, the Central Bank launched a three-month consultation period on key aspects of the Individual Accountability Framework for bankers. Derville Rowland is Deputy Governor at the Central Bank of Ireland with responsibility in this area, and she joined Ciaran Hancock to explain how this new regime will work and what will be expected of financial firms and their executives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the United States, the legislative limit on the amount of national debt that can be incurred by the US Treasury has reached its absolute limit. As it stands, the US government is limited by law to borrowing no more than $31.4 trillion, this debt ceiling is routinely reached, but once that happens Congress can simply vote to raise the ceiling and allow the US to borrow more money, and thus continue to pay the nation’s debts.This time around, Republicans have put pressure on President Joe Biden by refusing to raise the debt limit unless they see some tangible federal spending cuts imposed as well as assurances on future spending. A preliminary deal has been struck, named the Fiscal Responsibility Act, it would suspend the debt ceiling until 2025. It must be voted through the House of Representatives later today before it can make its way to the Democrat-controlled Senate later this week.Will the deal satisfy both sides? And what would happen if the US defaulted on the debts it owes? Host Ciarán Hancock is joined by Irish Times Washington Correspondent Martin Wall and Jack Kelly, Senior Contributor to Forbes and Chief Executive of recruitment firm Wecrutir and The Compliance Search Group. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Keogh, entrepreneur in the crisp industry, discusses the 200-year history of his family's farm business, the challenge of taking on Tayto, and how the pandemic was actually good for business. They also explore the process of rebranding the family business, their experience in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year program, and the intersection of farming and entrepreneurship.