Inside Business with Ciaran Hancock

The path has been paved for the government and public sector unions to enter into talks on a new pay deal for the country’s 300,000 State employees, following the publication of the report of the Public Sector Pay Commission yesterday.On the latest Inside Business podcast, Industry Correspondent Martin Wall joins Director of Research at Savills Ireland, John McCartney, to discuss what will be the flash-points when that time comes.Also in this episode, the Government has backed off plans to force owners of PCs, laptops and tablets to pay the TV licence fee. Laura Slattery has the background on this and on Virgin Media Ireland’s insistence that it will not pay for access to RTÉ channels.In the second half of the show, as the FAI continues its investigation into the betting allegations engulfing League of Ireland side Athlone Town, Irish Times football correspondent Emmett Malone has the latest in this extraordinary story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trenchant ground is being staked out in Brussels and in London, as Brexit posturing continues before any real talks get underway.In this episode, Laura Slattery steps in for Ciarán Hancock to lead the team in a look at this and some of the other big stories of the week.It was a good day for the exchequer today, as the Central Bank’s annual report recorded a profit of 2.3bn euro for 2016. Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports on the main findings. The deadline for PAYE workers to declare tax on their offshore assets is 5.30pm, Thursday, May 4th. Deputy Business Editor Dominic Coyle explains why those missing the deadline are not likely to meet with any sympathy from the Revenue Commissioners.And, Markets Correspondent Joe Brennan casts the net stateside, where trouble is brewing between George Soros’s Quantum Partners fund and the board of Kennedy Wilson Europe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What role if any will traditional bricks and mortar banks play in the future dominated by disruptive technology like AI, robotics and social media? For the first ever Inside Business episode recorded in front of a live audience, we asked three of Ireland's top experts to predict the future of the industry.The panel: David Duffy, chief executive of CYBG (Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank) in the UK and a former AIB CEO, Gavin Kelly, director of distribution channels with Bank of Ireland, and Mairead Jackson, managing director of Accenture. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What exactly does the British Prime Minister want? That’s the question Irish Times columnist Chris Johns asks in the latest podcast.He joins Business Editor Cliff Taylor and Markets Correspondent Joe Brennan to discuss the fallout from Theresa May’s surprise announcement of a snap UK election yesterday, how it might affect the Brexit negotiations and what impact will be felt here in Ireland.Later in the podcast, Simon Carswell has the details of Trump's plan to review of the H-1B visa programme and outlines what it's likely to mean for Irish people seeking to work in the US. There is also some discussion of the setbacks to Trump’s tax reform plans and why that means Irish businesses can breathe a sigh of relief, for now at least.If you’d like to have your say on the issues we cover, you can email businesspodcast@irishtimes.comYou can also get the latest business news by signing up to businesstoday@irishtimes.com and you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With conflicting messages coming from the Minister for Finance and the Department of Finance on exactly how much scope there will be for expenditure and tax cuts in the 2018 budget, the only thing that is certain is that there won't be a whole lot to spare.Irish Times Business Editor Cliff Taylor joins Ciarán Hancock to crunch the numbers, while  Barry O'Halloran has the latest on Norwegian Air's plans to enter the South American market and Laura Slattery reports on Communicorp's CEOs cull.The panel also discuss the North-South electricity inter-connector, banker's salaries and how Brexit will impact media advertising. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another sharp rise in house prices in the first quarter of 2017 has left some wondering if the market is not once again overheating to a dangerous degree. Is the bubble back? What exactly is driving the rise, and can we expect acceleration to slow as more housing is supplied? We ask architect Mel Reynolds and economist Marian Finnegan of Sherry Fitzgerald.After that we're on to commercial property. Relm is a new commercial lending fund venture, co-founded by Richard Barrett, that will invest €200 million in Irish projects over seven years. We talk to CEO Paul Dowling about what this offers that traditional lenders cannot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fianna Fáil’s spokesperson on jobs and enterprise, Niall Collins, has criticised the government for allowing a two tier economic recovery take hold across the country.Speaking to Wednesday’s Inside Business podcast, the Limerick TD said the idea that Dublin’s cup must overflow in order for the recovery trickle down to the rest of the country has to change.However, president of the National College of Ireland and former CEO of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, Gina Quin, said it should not be a case of ‘us versus them’, but rather one of how a prosperous Dublin can drive growth in the regional economies.Later in the podcast, the panel discussed Brexit and British Prime Minister Theresa May’s triggering of article 50, beginning what are likely to be lengthy negotiations with the EU.Irish Times Business Editor Cliff Taylor took us through the timeline and what happens next, while economist Jim Power said anyone who claims to know how the talks might turn out is mad and reiterated his calls for the appointment of a Brexit minister as a matter of urgency. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Even in the colourful history book of corporate Ireland and its standards of governance, this could yet turn out to be a particularly psychedelic chapter", wrote Mark Paul, breaking the news that INM CEO Robert Pitt made a protected disclosure to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement about the value his company's board put on its acquisition target, Newstalk. Mark is here to talk us through the story. And Laura Slattery lays out what we know about RTÉ DG Dee Forbes's restructuring plan which is said to involve the loss of 200 jobs at the state broadcaster, and what the future might look like in Montrose. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane explains how he and his colleagues on the Public Accounts Committee were not equipped to deal with all of the allegations of wrongdoing in relation to the circumstances surrounding the sale of NAMA's Project Eagle loan book and why there needs to be a commission of investigation to take a deeper look at it.He was joined in studio by our political correspondent Harry McGee to go through the details of the report and explain why tax-payers should be concerned by the findings.Also in this episode, our business team go through some of the big stories of the week, covering everything from Ardagh’s IPO to the ongoing and multi-faceted row over the Mercantile pub group. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A "cause of concern" is how Ed Sibley of the Central Bank has described its research on diversity in Ireland's financial institutions.The bank's Director of Credit Institutions Supervision, told this week's Inside Business Podcast that the study is the first of its kind and its results reflect a poor picture of diversity in the sector.This research is a step towards tackling the problems that lead to poor levels of diversity in financial institutions, he said, and will send out the signal that the regulator takes it seriously.Also on the podcast, Ulster Bank is one of just two Irish banks now offering Apple Pay to its customers.Director of Customer Experience and Products at the bank, Maeve McMahon, joined Ciara O'Brien from the business team to discuss the service and said she has no concerns about its security.In terms of becoming a cashless society, McMahon said Ireland isn't there yet but the launch of Apple Pay, coupled with Android Pay a few months ago, does bring us closer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.