New electric vehicle sales here dipped last year by 24% when compared to 2023, further making a mockery of the government’s target of 1 million EVs on Irish roads by 2030. A reduction in the SEAI grant and gaps in charging infrastructure fed into consumer uncertainty when it comes to making the switch from petrol and diesel vehicles. But that trend…

This week brought more bad news for first time buyers and those renting. Figures from both the CSO and property website Daft.ie suggest that house prices and rents continue to soar across the country. The national monthly average rent between January and March surpassed €2,000 for the first time. And the chronic shortage of supply for those looking…

This week’s episode of Inside Business starts with an interview with Irish entrepreneur Jordan Dargan. Fans of the popular BBC show The Apprentice, will have seen Jordan come within a whisker of reaching the final two who got to pitch to secure Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment. There was some consolation for the 22-year-old Dubliner with Lord Sugar…

Earlier this week, US meal delivery group DoorDash agreed a deal to take over its British rival Deliveroo, which has a big presence in Ireland. The deal is valued at £2.9 billion and will pit the merged group in competition with other online delivery platforms such as Just Eat and Uber Eats. Callum Cant is an author and senior lecturer from the Uni…

This week Inside Business looks at the impact of Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office on markets. The sweeping US tariffs announced on April 2nd rocked equity and bond markets. They plunged in value to such an extent that Donald Trump was forced into a quick U Turn, postponing all of the tariffs for 90 days, with the exception of China. Aidan Do…

This week’s episode features Patrick Guilbaud, the French chef who brought fine dining to Ireland 44 years ago. Situated beside the Merrion Hotel in central Dublin, Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud continues to thrive with two Michelin stars. Guilbaud moved to Ireland in the early 1980’s when the country was in recession, and it wasn’t always plain sail…

Kerrygold is one of the biggest food brands in Ireland and one of our largest exports. Earlier today, its parent company Ornua announced that revenues last year were flat at €3.4 billion but its operating profit and Ebitda were up, helped by efficiencies achieved during the period. But that was last year. Before Donald Trump won the US presidential…

A full-blown global tariff war in underway. Donald’s Trump’s tariffs took effect last night with the EU due to vote today on a retaliatory list drawn up by the European Commission. The US and China meanwhile have engaged in tit for tat tariffs in the past few days. China has also vowed to fight to the end in the tariff war. What will all this mean …

Last week data from the CSO showed a decline of 30 per cent in the number of visitors to the country in February, with revenue taking a hit of €88 million during the month. This continued a trend dating back to last September. In this week’s episode of Inside Business, you’ll hear conflicting views from the trade on the current state of the tourism…

In the first part of this week’s episode of Inside Business, we look at Tesla and the backlash against the vehicle car maker this year because of Elon Musk’s association with Donald Trump. Sales in Europe have slumped while its share price has shed 24 per cent of its value year to date. That amounts to about $800 billion of market value being wiped…

On this week’s episode of Inside Business, we discuss US President Donald Trump’s intention to impose new reciprocal tariff rates on EU countries and elsewhere from April 2nd. What are reciprocal tariffs and how will Ireland be affected? Will we be singled out? What is coming down the line in terms of ‘special tariffs’, and their potential impact o…

This week, Inside Business host Ciarán Hancock is joined by Tony Smurfit, president and CEO of Smurfit WestRock, the biggest paper and packaging group in the world. Last month he was chosen as Irish Times business person of the year for successfully concluding a combination of Smurfit Kappa Group with American company WestRock in a $24 billion deal…

This week’s guest on Inside Business is Leo Crawford, who recently stepped down as the head of BWG Group after nearly 40 years with the business. BWG is a wholesale group at heart that supplies groceries to a large network of shops in Ireland and the southwest of England under a variety of retail brands, including Spar, Eurospar, Mace and Londis. L…

This week host Ciarán Hancock is joined in studio by Dublin publican and Managing Director of Grand Slam Bars, Noel Anderson. The pub group is jointly owned by former Irish rugby internationals Rob Kearney, his brother David, Jamie Heaslip and Sean O’Brien. They own the Bridge bar in Ballsbridge, the Blackrock pub in the Dublin coastal suburb, the …

Earlier this month, Red Flag Global, an Irish-based strategic communications firm was acquired by New York-based Ankura Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm. The financial details weren’t revealed but it is understood that the price tag on the deal was €45 million. Founded in 2013 by Karl Brophy, the company was chaired by Gavin O’…

In the past week, Taoiseach Micheal Martin has suggested that the Rent Pressure Zone system could be scrapped and that tax breaks could be introduced to help incentivise developers to build more apartments and houses. Would these measures make rents more affordable for tenants? Or boost the supply of affordable new homes? To tease out this tricky p…

At the start of this week US President Donald Trump took the global economy into uncharted territory by threatening a multi-front trade war. After last-minute negotiations on Monday, hefty tariffs for Canada and Mexico were suspended for 30 days. China then saw a 10% duty imposed on their imports into the US and retaliated soon after with their own…

On Monday, markets were in meltdown when it emerged that a Chinese app called DeepSeek had developed a low-cost AI technology that can compete with those of US giants but at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the computing power. So, who is behind DeepSeek? And what is the future for the huge valuations on Big Tech and data centre stocks in t…

Karen Clince is CEO of Tigers Childcare, one of the biggest providers in the Irish market with 22 centres in Dublin, Cork, Kildare and Meath. She joins host Ciarán Hancock to explain the economics of running a childcare facility and give her view on proposals from the new Government to boost the sector. And Laura Slattery of the Irish Times talks u…

Last week a high-profile residential property scheme for Dundrum village in Dublin, that would have delivered 881 apartments and a mix of commercial units, was rejected by An Bord Pleanála. The scheme had first been proposed in 2021 by Hammerson and Allianz who between them owned the land. In a rejection letter the board was strong in its language …

Figures for 2024 showed a 1 per cent decline in total car sales across the Irish market versus 2023. But the number of electric vehicles sold reduced by almost 24 per cent with just 17,459 registered. This is against the backdrop of a government target to have one million EVs on Irish roads by 2030 as we phase out the use of fossil fuels. Neil Bris…

For this week’s episode, host Ciarán Hancock was joined by a stellar panel to look forward to 2025. They tried to predict what would happen with foreign direct investment with Donald Trump back in The White House, a new coalition government is to be formed but will it solve the decade-plus housing crisis, and they consider the impact of artificial …

Ireland’s ongoing housing crisis was the number one concern for voters as they went to the polls in November with scarce supply and price inflation a feature throughout 2024. It was also a topic covered repeatedly on this podcast throughout the year with many experts and contributors offering context, insight, and in some cases, potential solutions…

It has been another tough year for restaurant and café owners – according to the Restaurant Association of Ireland, two venues a day are closing as businesses struggle to make ends meet amid rising inflation and a spike in payroll costs. On this week’s episode of Inside Business, host Ciarán Hancock is joined by Vanessa Murphy, co-owner of Las Tapa…

As 2024 nears its end, Inside Business looks back at some of the big stories of the year. Everything from rising house prices to soaring corporation tax receipts, to Taylor Swift concerts and Donald Trump’s re-election as US president. To review the year, host Ciarán Hancock iss joined by Eoin Burke-Kennedy, Conor Pope and Ian Curran of The Irish T…