Inside Business with Ciaran Hancock

This episode of the Inside Business podcast looks at Ireland's commercial and residential property markets. In part one John McCartney, Director of Research at BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland, discusses a significant surge in Dublin's office vacancies and the factors affecting office space demand, including the global economic downturn, a tech sector slowdown, and shifts in workspace needs post-COVID. In part two economics columnist Cliff Taylor looks at Sinn Féin's criticism of first-time buyer support schemes and the State's spending on measures to help people find homes. The episode also explores the potential for repurposing vacant office spaces into housing and the challenges associated with these conversions.

This week we take a deep dive into the issues impacting tech giant Apple. In the year to date, the iPhone maker's share price has fallen by more than 8 per cent, and about €300 billion has been wiped off its market value. Apple has ceded to Microsoft its status as the most valuable US company. This drop was spurred by declining sales in China, regulatory scrutiny of its app store, and mounting concerns that the company has lost its edge on innovation, especially in the field of AI. But is Apple's recent decline likely to continue in the longer term? Business Editor Ciaran Hancock gets a range of perspectives. Guests: Geoff Blaber, CEO of CCS Insight, Denis Staunton, Irish Times China correspondent, Karlin Lillington, Irish Times technology columnist and Ciara O'Brien, Irish Times business and technology journalist.

On this week’s Inside Business with Ciarán Hancock we look at Aviva’s plan to re-enter the Irish health insurance market and what that might mean for consumers. Will this deliver lower prices for hard pressed Irish consumers? Will it bring additional benefits in coverage? And is worth the hassle to switch for customers of VHI, Laya and Irish Life Health? To get some answers to these questions and more, Ciarán is joined on the podcast by Dermot Goode of Totalcover.ie, a Locktons Company, and an expert on Irish health insurance. Also on the podcast, the Government published its Stability Programme Update. This is an update of budgetary forecasts provided to the European Union. It predicts a surplus for this year of €8.6 billion and a warning that the economy has slowed.Cliff Taylor of The Irish Times has been through the document to break down the vast array of numbers and what they mean. How much of the budget surplus might be used to fund tax cuts or additional spending on key public services, given that €6 billion is earmarked for two sovereign funds?Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

On this week’s episode of Inside Business, host Ciarán Hancock is joined in studio by aviation entrepreneur Ulick McEvaddy. With his brother Des, Ulick has established a successful aviation business over the past 40 years called Omega. He and Des also own a large parcel of land beside Dublin Airport. Along with two other landowners, it amounts to 260 acres and was put on the market for sale in the middle of last year. With no sale agreed, they subsequently submitted a concept plan to Fingal County Council to develop the site for a third passenger terminal at Dublin Airport, as part of a €2.2 billion development. He argues that for the same money as DAA is proposing to spend on its own expansion plan, his proposal would allow the airport to expand by an additional 20 million passengers while solving road access issues and providing a platform for Dublin to become a hub for sustainable aviation fuel. Crucially, however, he doesn’t have access to the runway, something that was an issue for bidders in the land sale process. You’ll hear Ulick address that issue and explain why his plan isn’t, as many believe, pie in the sky. Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

On this week’s episode of the Inside Business podcast, we look at the pension pots that auto enrolment could deliver for workers on an average wage. The State is planning to establish the scheme for workers who do not already have pension cover in their workplace. It has been much delayed but is moving forward and EY this week crunched the numbers to see what workers might get by way of a pension when they retire. Dominic Coyle of the Irish Times reported on EY’s figures and joined host Ciarán Hancock in studio to explain how exactly auto enrolment will work. Also on the podcast, the Minister for Finance Michael McGrath’s announced last week that he intended to set up two new funds to help meet the costs of running the State in the years ahead. Cliff Taylor of The Irish Times has been writing about this and joined Ciarán to outline what the funds would be used for and how much tax revenue would be set aside to fund them.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

Figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry this week showed that electric car sales are in reverse, falling by 14 per cent year on year in March. This compared with double digit increases in the sales of petrol and hybrid car. Even diesel sales rose by 9 per cent. Meanwhile a survey by AA Ireland found that half of the 1000 respondents would not opt to buy an electric car. Why the hesitance to go electric? And what can be done to incentivise people to buy EVs? Irish Times motoring editor Michael McAleer joins host Ciarán Hancock in studio to explain why EV sales are going in the wrong direction. Also on this week’s episode of Inside Business, Irish Times economics correspondent Eoin Burke-Kennedy discusses the drop in Irish inflation for March, where it fell below 2 per cent for the first time in three years. Could this persuade the European Central Bank to begin cutting interest rates from June? And what might it mean for mortgage rates? Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

In this episode of Inside Business host Ciarán Hancock is joined in studio by Chief executive and founder of Cubic Telecom, Barry Napier. In a wide-ranging interview, Barry discusses his formative years in Ireland and Chicago, his early career before joining Cubic more than 15 years ago and the key entrepreneurial lessons he has learned along the way. He also gives his thoughts on why Japanese telecoms giant SoftBank shelled out €473 million for a 51 per cent controlling stake in Cubic last year. Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

It feels like recent history repeating itself with TikTok again facing a ban in the US on national security grounds. A Bill passed through the House of Representatives last week requiring a change in ownership for the social media platform or it would face a total ban in the United States.What if the ban becomes a reality? Host Laura Slattery is joined by Irish Times technology expert Ciara O’Brien to discuss the potential consequences for the hugely popular app that currently has 170 million active US users.Also on this episode, we hear how Bitcoin has rebounded from the cryptocurrency implosion of 2022 to approach near record market value. What are the factors driving its resurgence and is it likely to last? Irish Times business reporter Ian Curran has the details. Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

With the use of cash declining in recent years, a trend accelerated by the pandemic, the Access to Cash Bill is designed to manage future cash demand here, initially preserving the cash infrastructure at December 2022 levels.To discuss the Access to Cash Bill and its potential impact on the three retail banks (AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB), Ciarán Hancock is joined by CEO of the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland, Brian Hayes. Also on this episode, Irish Times Economics Correspondent Eoin Burke-Kennedy explains the factors behind the Central Bank’s prediction that real wages for the average employee will rise by almost 9 per cent over the next three years.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.