Inside Business with Ciaran Hancock

In the first half of this week’s Inside Business, host Ciarán Hancock will be talking to Vincent Cleary, co-owner of Offaly-based organic yoghurt maker Glenisk.Vincent is co-owner of the business with his brother Brian, a company that was set up in 1995 by their father Jack.Glenisk had a near death experience in 2021 when its manufacturing plant, warehouse and offices burned to the ground. Vincent explains how it has bounced back from that devastating moment.Plus, a couple of years ago, streaming giant Netflix looked untouchable. It had emerged from the pandemic with record subscriber numbers, was cracking down on password sharing and introducing advertising on its platform.But things have changed. This year the share price has tanked, and it is now laying off staff and rethinking its strategy.Ian Curran of The Irish Times has been covering the story and joined Ciarán on the line to outline what has gone wrong for Netflix over the past 12 months. Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Inside Business we’re looking at the latest data on motor insurance, which shows that premiums continue to rise.The Central Bank’s annual report on motor premiums shows them going up due to increases in both vehicle damage claims and personal injury costs.Darragh Cassidy, the head of communications at Bonkers.ie, and Joe Brennan of The Irish Times joined host Ciarán Hancock in studio to discuss this, with Joe taking us through the headline numbers from the report and later Darragh outlining the ways that young drivers can reduce their premiums.Plus, those of a certain age will have fond memories of the Citroën 2CV, a French car that helped make driving affordable and accessible to all back in the day.At the Paris Motor Show recently it was relaunched as an electric vehicle costing just €15,000.This prompted our tech columnist Emmet Ryan to write about it in the Irish Times.He explains why the launch caught his eye, especially as he can’t drive.Produced by John Casey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

First up on this budget special, host Ciarán Hancock was joined on the line by Irish Times political editor Pat Leahy from Leinster House who took us through the headline elements of the budget.In part two we focused on childcare, where many parents are put to the pin of their collar paying for their children to be minded in creches and other facilities.Elain Dunne is chair of the Federation of Early Childhood Providers and owner manager of Treehouse Montessori in Dublin. Will there be enough for a sector that is struggling to make ends meet?And in the final part of this episode, Ciarán was joined by EY tax partner Frank O’Neill and Cliff Taylor of the Irish Times for their assessment of the budget measures and to discuss how this is being received by the Irish business community.Produced by John Casey. 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.