AI - Magnified with Matt Cooper

Daniel McConnell is one of Ireland's most respected and forward thinking journalists. Prior to being appointed editor of the Business Post, he was political editor of the Irish Examiner since 2015, and is the recipient of Newsbrands Ireland national journalist of the year and political journalist of the year.

He previously worked as group political correspondent and chief reporter at Independent News and Media, now Mediahuis Ireland, between 2006 and 2015, as well as at the Irish Times and the Sunday Times.

His 2016 book Hell At the Gates, published by Mercier Press, covered the downfall of the Brian Cowen government and was a national best seller.

In this week's episode Matt joines his boss to discuss the state of play of journalism in ireland, the role of RTE and how newspapers can futureproof themselves in an ever changing market.

We also hear how he could have been the next Thom Yorke. Enjoy!

In an investigation conducted by RTÉ, in association with the Irish Mail on Sunday, reporter Anne Sheridan examines the Catholic Church’s handling of allegations against the former Bishop of Galway, Eamonn Casey, who died in 2017. Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets  includes an interview with one of Bishop Casey’s accusers, his niece, Patricia Donovan. Speaking for the first time on camera, she claims that he first raped her at the age of five and that the sexual abuse continued for years.

In this week's episode of Magnified, Anne Sheridan joins Matt to discuss these shocking revelations, how they were covered up and enabled and above all the courage of the victims in coming forward.

Kenny Jacobs is a hugely successful businessman with a rich and varied career that has brought him from stacking shelves in Dunnes as a teen to heading up the DAA. He graduated from University College Cork in 1997 with a degree in commerce. Having worked with Tesco both here and in England, Jacobs was announced as the CEO of the DAA (Dublin Airport Authority) in November 2022 and began his role in January 2023. Prior to this, he served as the Chief Marketing Officer at Ryanair. His extensive experience includes marketing, commercial, and operational roles in large consumer-serving businesses.

Kenny joins Matt to discuss his incredible career, working with Michael O'Leary, why he works airport security security at and his future plans for Dublin and Cork airports.

Avril Copeland is a remarkable individual who has led an adventurous and multifaceted life.

Hailing from Dublin, Ireland (her father is none other than legendary tailor Louis Copeland), Avril played international hockey for Ireland and worked in the country music business in Nashville and developed a passion for adventure racing, where she raced seriously for five years.

With a background in physiotherapy Avril is the CEO and co-founder of Innerstrength Health, an eHealth company. The company develops digital tools that facilitate collaboration between health professionals and patients for preventing and treating chronic conditions.

In this wide-ranging conversation with Matt you get to hear about all the dimensions of her incredible professional and sporting life as well as her journey with IVF and dealing with her sons profound deafness diagnosis. Enjoy!

Currently proving herself to be one of the best pundits in the game at Euro 24, in this edition Matt revisits a conversation he had with one of the most influential Women in World Sport. Lisa Fallon has been a footballer, an analyst, coach, manager and now sits on the FIFA Technical Group and has built a reputation as one of the foremost minds in the game.

Conor Niland, a former Irish professional tennis player, has written a captivating book titled "The Racket: On Tour with Tennis’s Golden Generation – and the other 99%." In this memoir, Niland shares his experiences as part of the 99% of players who travel the globe, hoping to climb the rankings and qualify for Grand Slam tournaments. The book provides insights into the social dynamics on tour, the economics of the game, and the challenges faced by touring pros whose earnings barely cover their expenses1 2. It's a unique look inside the fascinating hidden world of professional tennis and in this week's episode he joins Matt to discuss his fascinating book and career.

Rena Maycock is a remarkable entrepreneur who wears multiple hats. She founded Cilter Technologies, a startup that develops child protection software for smartphones. Their software detects and blocks cyberbullying, grooming, and self-harm content in user-generated messages and browsers1. Rena is also the CEO of Cilter, leading the charge to make internet use safer for children.

Additionally, Rena co-founded Intro, a matchmaking agency, with her husband Feargal Harrington in 2011. Furthermore, Rena is an advocate for women in tech, emphasizing funding equality and mentoring aspiring female founders Her journey from cold call sales to deep tech CEO is is a fasciating so enjoy her telling it to Matt on this week's episode.

Fresh from being elected Mayor of Limerick, this week we revisit Matt's previous conversation with John Moran.

Once dubbed Ireland's Mr Austerity, Limerick’s first directly-elected mayor has had a fascinating career, in law, in business, as a senior official in the department of finance during an economic crisis, Chairman of the Land development agency and now he's overcoming cancer. He discusses all of these topics and the need for state intervention in land and housing development in this edition of Magnified.

Anthony Scaramucci is an American financier but he best known for the time he briefly served as the White House Director of Communications from July 21 to July 31, 2017 before being dismissed by President Donald Trump. Scaramucci has also been critical of Trump in the media and voiced support for Joe Biden in the 2020 and 2024 election and is a huge advocate for bitcoin. In this episode of Magnified Matt spoke to Anthony in front of a live audience about his short but eventful time in Trump's White House and whay he is such cheerleader for crypto.

The late Tony O'Reilly was many things to many people. A brilliant rugby player capped by The Lions, a business giant on both sides of the Atlantic, a philathropist, art collector, media mogul and above all one of the most influential figues in recent Irish history. Matt Cooper literally wrote the book on the man so in a special edition of Magnified he has swapped seats and invited Anton Savage to interview him about Tony O'Reilly's quite incredible life.