Irish Times Inside Business

This week’s guest on Inside Business is Brad Smith, vice chair and president at tech giant Microsoft.He was in Dublin this week to speak at the Government’s international AI summit in the RDS.Brad sat down with host Ciarán Hancock to discuss the need for regulation of AI, both globally and for individual states, Ireland’s potential role in the development of the technology and how it could change our lives and workplaces.He also spelled out Microsoft’s own plans and ambitions for AI development in the coming years.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of Inside Business, we start with Ireland’s economic outlook a week out from the Budget 2027 announcement. After years of consistent steady growth and running a surplus, what potential challenges await next year? Are we putting enough into the State’s rainy-day funds?And why do developments with the US Federal Reserve have a clear impact on our economy?To discuss all this, host Cliff Taylor was joined in studio by Rossa White, Chief Economist at EY Ireland.In the second half of this episode, we look at agentic AI and why it has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons lately.Data breaches and deceptive behaviour have led to growing calls from AI leaders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei, for a more cautious approach to AI development and stronger safeguards. But why don’t these companies know what their software is up to?And is proper regulation even a possibility at this point?Irish Times business and technology journalist Ciara O’Brien has been following these developments closely and she explained why agentic AI is giving big tech cause for concern.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, fuel prices at the pump continue to rise and Energia last week became the latest domestic player to increase its electricity and gas prices.A winter of discontent potentially lies ahead with the Government scrambling to put together support packages for the budget on October 6th.Muireann Lynch is senior research officer at the ESRI, and an energy expert and she joined host Ciarán Hancock in studio to give her view on the outlook for energy prices over the short to long term and how this will feed in to costs for Irish households and businesses.Also on this episode of Inside Business, we look at how the British and Irish Lions 2025 tour was hugely successful both on and off the pitch.On the pitch, the team won its test series in Australia 2-1. Off the pitch it made a record profit of £13m on revenue of £50m. Ben Calveley is the chief executive of the company behind the British and Irish Lions and joined Ciarán via video link to discuss the financial success of the Lions and potential avenues of growth for the business of both the men’s and the women’s tours.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s episode of Inside Business host Ciarán Hancock has Irish Times new recruit Killian Woods in studio to discuss a Government scheme to support the building of apartments in our cities, which looks set to miss a key target.Croi Conaithe cities is a Government support scheme to help plug the affordability gap to support apartment building, which is a key plank in the State’s plan to solve the housing crisis.Earlier this week, Killian wrote a story in The Irish Times stating that the scheme was in danger of missing its key target of building 5,000 new apartments over the lifetime of the scheme.What will happen when the scheme’s €450 million budget is spent? And has the building sector here come to rely too much on State subsidies?In the second half of the programme, Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, the CEO of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation explains why the country is in danger of not having enough bedrooms to accommodate tourists. This is despite the Government’s aim to increase Ireland’s tourism revenue by 50% by 2031. Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First up on this week’s episode of Inside Business is Elon Musk's company SpaceX and its plan to raise $75 billion through what will likely be the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in history this Friday.The company values itself at $1.75tn, but some analysts feel it is worth far less.Could it prove to be a risky bet for the retail investor given SpaceX's lack of profit? And there are question marks over governance given Musk's almost untouchable status within the company.To get some insight on all this, host Cliff Taylor was joined in studio by Aidan Donnelly, head of Global Equities at Davy.Plus, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is expected to announce a 0.25% rise in the ECB's interest rate, this will bring it up to 2.25%.It will be the first interest rate hike since 2023, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the impact that had on energy prices.So, what does this week’s increase mean for Irish mortgage holders and those looking to buy?And is this the beginning of a cycle of increases designed to control rising inflation?Cliff was joined in studio by Senior Mortgage Advisor at Irish Mortgage Brokers, Michael Dowling.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Inside Business looks at pay transparency. A new EU directive requiring employers to disclose salary ranges in the workplace and toughen rules enforcing gender pay equality comes into effect on June 7th.However, Ireland is set to miss that deadline, with no draft legislation in place. Nichola Harkin is head of employment law services at employers’ group Ibec and joins host Ciaran Hancock in studio to explain the key elements of the new EU pay legislation and what it will mean for employers and their staff.How is it being received by companies here? And will it close the gender pay gap?In the second half of this episode, Ciarán speaks to Irish Times Washington Correspondent Keith Duggan about the new governor of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh. He has been described by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman as Donald Trump’s sock puppet.So, the question is, will he be his own man or a Trump patsy?Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How high could oil prices go?It has shot up since the United States and Israel’s war with Iran began a couple of months ago. But not by as much as might have been expected. Talks on a deal are taking place but in the absence of a deal there is concern that a prolonged conflict could lead to a global recession. Economist John FitzGerald and Cliff Taylor of the Irish Times join host Ciarán Hancock in studio to discuss the implications for Irish householders and businesses. In the second half of this week’s Inside Business, we hear about how plans for a €250 million winter sports arena in Cherrywood, south Dublin are progressing. This  week we learned that several US and Canadian ice hockey stars, including former Stanley Cup winners, have signed on as investors in the proposed ice hockey arena.Eoin Burke-Kennedy of The Irish Times has been covering the story, and he joined Ciarán to outline who these investors are and what their involvement means for the project. Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s Inside Business podcast Cliff Taylor from The Irish Times discusses the latest inflation figures, and our Current Affairs Correspondent Conor Pope offers tips on cutting your energy bills.Headline inflation in the Irish economy remained steady at 3.6% in April, figures published today show.“It’s hard to know how things will go but it looks like we could have a turbulent three to six months where energy is concerned” Cliff Taylor said.For consumers that could mean the need to take a look at the small changes that could, by the year’s end, tally up to substantial savings.The time you spend in the shower, the amount of water you put in the kettle, and how often you put the immersion heater on are all behaviours worth looking at, explains Conor Pope.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.