Irish Times Inside Business

As Michael Noonan prepares to hang up his boots at the Department of Finance, former Labour TD Pat Rabbitte and IBEC's Danny McCoy join Cliff Taylor and Ciarán Hancock to discuss his legacy.In the second part of the show, Laura Slattery and Davin O'Dwyer are in studio to talk about the announcements made at Apple's conference on Monday, including that Amazon Prime will now be available on Apple TV. They look at what affect, if any, that might have on Netflix. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With an expected price tag of €3 billion, the AIB flotation green-lighted by the Finance Minister Michael Noonan on Tuesday, will be one of the biggest in Europe in recent years.Does that mean the government will have extra money to spend on much-needed infrastructure once the sale goes through? Not exactly, Cliff Taylor tells the latest Inside Business podcast.Under restrictive EU rules, the government must use the proceeds of the sale to pay down debt. With the Irish market badly exposed to the impending Brexit, the panel discuss whether now is the time to plead our case to our European partners.Later on in the podcast, Mark Paul tells us about the ‘immunity phone’, in the context of a bid rigging case at the Central Criminal Court, and he is joined by Barry O’Halloran for a discussion on Ryanair’s profits and the final divorce settlement in the Mercantile pub row. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the early 1990's John Fitzpatrick went to New York to run a new hotel owned by his father. Today, Fitzpatrick is now one of New York hospitality's most well known names, and his two hotels are havens for Irish visitors to the city. In the 25 years in between he has seen many ups and downs in the trade, from the post-9/11 downturn to monthly Celtic Tiger-era shopping trips by the wealthy Irish, and the advent of AirBnB.He tells Ciarán Hancock about his quarter century in New York. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Exporters, particularly in the agri-food sector, are already beginning to feel the Brexit pinch, according to Enterprise Ireland. Is enough being done to protect the economy from restricted access to the UK market? Can that damage be offset by growth in the financial services sector? And will we have enough homes to house all the new bankers? To discuss all this we're joined by economist Jim Power, and Joe Brennan and Eoin Burke Kennedy from The Irish Times business team. In part two: controversial UK retailer Sports Direct opened its first major standalone store in Dublin this week. Mark Paul paid a visit and found a tough competitor for established players such as Lifestyle and Elverys.Inside Business is produced in association with Irish Life. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out 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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out 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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out 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 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out infor

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out 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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out 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

"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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out 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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out 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. See acast.com/privacy for pr

President Trump heralded a “new chapter in American greatness” in his address to Congress last night. A pretty picture, says senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Caroline Freund, but not the likely outcome.The former World Bank economist predicted that the next four years are going to look very like Reagan’s presidency while the US economy experiences a short boom followed by a crash.Columnist Chris Johns said Trump’s speech was light on detail about the administration’s much mooted plans to reform tax and the president appeared to demonstrate a lack of understanding about what exactly VAT is. Both Freund and Johns agreed that the US corporate tax system is bad for domestic business and President Trump is right to have it in his cross-hairs, though that would spell bad news for Ireland.Also on the podcast, Laura Slattery and Mark Paul of the business team were in studio to discuss the rumours of exploratory talks on a possible take-over of The Examiner by Independent News Media

It has been all change in the Irish agri-food sector these past weeks. Poor results at bakery giant Aryzta led to the departure of CEO Owen Killian and his team, while this week saw Kerry and Glanbia posting expectation-beating profits and revealing news about their future plans. To analyse the news we talk to Joe Gill of Goodbody Stockbrokers and our own Joe Brennan who has been covering the stories. In part two we talk to Pamela Newenham, formerly of this parish but now departing for San Francisco to represent Irish social-tech start-up GirlCrew, which she co-founded. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

KBC Bank had a decision to make: stay in Ireland and grow its mainly mortgage-based business here, or fold up the tent and go back to Belgium. Following an internal review, it was announced last week that KBC would remain. CEO of KBC Ireland Wim Verbraeken is here to tell us why they're staying, what it means for Irish banking and how KBC will face the challenges ahead.In the second half of the show, Brid O'Connell, CEO of Guaranteed Irish explains that organisation's strategy for becoming relevant to Irish consumers again. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

President Trump’s plan to overhaul the US tax system and how that might affect Ireland, is the focus of this week's Inside Business podcast.On the panel, tax partner with Grant Thornton, Peter Vale, who said there is still a lot of uncertainty about what will actually happen, and while there has been no sign of US companies deciding to move out of Ireland yet, some investments are certainly being put on hold.Irish Times columnist Chris Johns spoke about the need for some radical thinking in the face of Trump’s proposed reforms and newly installed Irish Times Washington Correspondent Suzanne Lynch was on the line to give the view from the US. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

At the height of the property boom in 2005, Jurys Doyle sold Jurys Ballsbridge to property developer Sean Dunne. “I was sitting in Ulster Bank in Dame Street when we opened the bids,” recalls Pat McCann, then Jurys Doyle CEO and now head of Dalata, Ireland's biggest hotel group. What popped out of the envelopes that day changed everything for McCann, who tells Ciaran Hancock about his career in the hotel trade on this week's podcast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this week's podcast: Ian Hunter of Investec and our markets correspondent Joe Brennan analyse the problems facing Swiss-Irish baking behemoth Aryzta, and its CEO Owen Killian, as its share price tumbled yesterday following the latest in a series of profit warnings. Where has it all gone wrong? Michael Noonan and EU taxation commissioner Pierre Moscovici were singing from different hymn sheets at The Irish Times Corporate Tax summit earlier this week. Cliff Taylor was there and he tells us what went on. Plus: For every €1 invested in advertising, companies win an average return of over €5 - not too shabby. This is according to a new report co-authored by Alan Cox of advertising agency Core Media, who joins Ciarán and media reporter Laura Slattery to explain their findings, discuss why this bonanza is not being seized by more Irish businesses - and why loyalty programmes are a waste of time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.