Inside Business with Ciaran Hancock

Donald Trump’s stance on imports coming into the US could have very real implications for Irish transatlantic trade.September proved to be a record month for Irish exports, as well as a record level of exports going to the US. This underlines the importance of a market that could be jeopardised if the president-elect follows through on his promise to introduce blanket tariffs on goods entering the US.Carol Lynch is customs and trade partner with BDO Ireland and she joined host Cliff Taylor to give some insight into what those tariffs could do to the Republic’s largest export market outside of the EU, and how Irish companies have already started preparations to manage those impacts. Cathal Foley and his company PACE won the sustainability and overall prize at the 2024 Irish Times Innovation awards.PACE stands for Platform for Analysing Carbon Emissions, specifically airline carbon emissions. The aviation sector has set an ambitious target of net zero emissions by 2050, something that is likely to cost around five trillion dollars. Cathal explained how PACE aims to help the sector achieve that target.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.   

Research from online broker Doddl.ie has estimated that savings of about €7,400 a year could be achieved by switching your mortgage rate. Martina Hennessey is chief executive of Doddl.ie and she joined host Ciarán Hancock to go through the maths on this. She also explained how the most attractive rates available apply to those with the most energy efficient homes.In the past week, the US stock market has surged following Donald’s Trump’s election victory. Donnacha Fox is chief investment officer at Quilter Cheviot and joined Ciarán in studio to explain why US stocks and crypto have spiked since it became clear that Trump was heading back to the White House.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

After a remarkable political comeback, Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States. So, what will that mean for the Irish economy, given that he has threatened huge tariffs on imports and promised to slash its corporate tax rate.Host Ciarán Hancock is joined by Cliff Taylor of The Irish Times to get his view on how bad a Trump presidency could be for Ireland.Also on the show, Conor Pope of The Irish Times explains why being single can cost you more than €300,000 over and above what a person in a couple will pay over the course of their adults lives, taking into account areas like housing, groceries, and taxes. Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

This week’s episode looks at the housing crisis from a slightly quirky angle.Imagine if Michael O’Leary decided to set up a development company to build housing and applied some of the lessons from Ryanair’s experience in disrupting the air travel business over the past three decades.It’s a point that Irish Times economics correspondent Eoin Burke Kennedy posited in a column earlier this week. Could a no-frills approach reduce construction costs that could in turn be passed on to home buyers?Paul Mitchell, director of construction consultancy Mitchell McDermott and an expert on construction costs, also joins the podcast to give his thoughts on potential solutions to ease the housing crisis in the coming years. Mitchell McDermott recently produced a cost study report on behalf of the Department of Housing, contained in which is the eye-watering figure of €600,000 now necessary to build a two-bedroom urban apartment.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

In his recent piece for the Irish Times, Harry Goddard, CEO of Big Four firm Deloitte, argues that Ireland needs to build more data centres. He says this could generate the demand for a sufficient number of renewable energy projects to be built to help those facilities operate on a carbon neutral basis.He joins Inside Business host Ciarán Hancock to explain why more data centres need to be built here, despite the large amount of electricity and water necessary to run them and the relatively small amount of people employed by them.Also on the podcast, Eoin Burke Kennedy of The Irish Times outlines five key battlegrounds in the upcoming general election, which we now know will be held this year. He cites housing, spending overruns, the cost-of-living crisis, interest rates, and business failures.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

These are some very challenging times for retail and hospitality here, with news this week that men’s fashion retailer Alias Tom was placed into liquidation while high profile Dublin restaurant Shanahan’s on St Stephen’s Green closed, and Dillinger’s in Ranelagh will close in November after 16 years in operation.On Tuesday, hundreds of hospitality, tourism, retail, and other small business owners protested in Dublin outside Leinster House about the increasing costs of doing business here, with many of those costs being Government imposed. The Restaurant Association of Ireland was one of the groups that organised that protest, and its CEO Adrian Cummins joins Inside Business host Ciarán Hancock to discuss the key issues raised at the protest, while Eoin Burke Kennedy of The Irish Times explains the backdrop to Alias Tom’s winding up this week.At the end of last month, the Government announced that the much talked about auto enrolment private sector pension scheme would finally come into effect in September 2025.A report in the Irish Independent suggested there could be a tax sting in the tail for those workers, following the release of the Finance Bill last week. Dominic Coyle, The Irish Times resident pensions expert, outlines what’s being proposed in the Finance Bill for auto enrolment.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

Host Ciarán Hancock is joined by guests to pore over the main points of Budget 2025. The €10.5 billion package has a range of measures, including the threshold for higher income tax rate rising to €44,000, the minimum wage gets an 80 cent bump to €13.50 an hour, the USC rate will be cut to three per cent, income credits will increase by €125, and a €12 weekly increase to welfare and pension payments.On the panel:Michael Rooney, EY Ireland Tax PartnerElaine Dunne, chairperson of the Federation of Early Childhood providersCliff Taylor, Irish Times Managing EditorJenifer Bray, Irish Times Political Correspondent Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

On this week’s episode of Inside Business, host Ciarán Hancock speaks with Bank of Ireland chief economist Conall MacCoille about their latest economic bulletin. It shows that almost 40 per cent of Irish housing transactions are now settled at a minimum 10 per cent premium above the original asking price, something Bank of Ireland puts down to “the intense competition for homes”. Conall Mac Coille is author of the bulletin, and while he points to lack of supply and wage growth as factors driving house price inflation, he notes that we might be experiencing a peak at the moment. He also gives his thoughts ahead of next week’s budget and whether Ireland is insulated from the economic woes affecting Britain, Germany and the wider EU bloc.Also on this episode, we hear from HR expert Louisa Meehan about return to the office trends in the wake of Amazon’s recent decision to order staff back to the workplace five days a week.Is that likely to become a trend here? And is working from home potentially detrimental for younger employees at the outset of their careers?Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.