The stresses and strains of everyday life can be challenging and it is easy to become overwhelmed. Michael Demetriou, Performance and Wellness Coach at Thrive Together Coaching spoke to John about the importance of self-awareness, understanding how you can look after your health and stay productive. 

Cyber security threats are an issue that most of us will have to deal, be it through phone calls, emails or text messages. With the scams and schemes being constant and increasingly more sophisticated, we spoke with Paul Delahunty, Chief Information Security Officer at Stryve about the simple ways that we can protect ourselves from becoming victims of cyber crime.

In this episode of The Bottom Line, Gerry Rafter of Rafter's Gastro Pub chats to John about what it meant to be named as "Small Business of The Year" at the Kilkenny Business Awards and being in business for over a quarter of a century.

To chat through some of the business news making the headlines this week, John was joined by Laura Slattery Media Correspondent at The Irish Times.

For two years we’ve had a pandemic and now we’re in what the Taoiseach has characterised as a “War Economy”, all these issues combined with many other things in our lives means it is very easy to become overwhelmed.  Michael Demetriou, Performance and Wellness Coach at Thrive Together Coaching spoke to John about the importance of self-awareness, understanding how you can look after your health and stay productive. 

Gerry Rafter, Owner of Rafter’s Gastro Pub chatted to John about being in business for over a quarter of a century and being named as the Best Small Business at the recent Kilkenny Business Awards.

In the face of spiralling numbers of fraud attempts every day - on mobile, computer or directly through increasingly sophisticated phone scams, John spoke with Paul Delahunty, Chief Information Security Officer at Stryve about what you need to do to prevent you and your business falling victim to unscrupulous fraudsters. 

With thanks to O’Neill Foley, Produced by Deirdre Dromey.

To contact the show, email: [email protected]

In this episode of The Bottom Line we bring you an extended interview with Philip and Miriam Cushen, the father and daughter team who are   the fifth and sixth generation of their family running Cushendale Woollen Mills. 

It was recently announced that Cushendale Woollen Mills will represent Kilkenny at this years National Enterprise Awards which will take place in Dublin's Mansion House in June.

During the week, HaloCare Group, the company founded by Carlow entrepreneur David Walsh announced the appointment of new Chief Executive Sarah-Jane O'Dwyer.  Someone who is no stranger to business success having worked in a range of roles which have brought her all around the world, Sarah-Jane joined John to chat more about the organisation and her new role.

We wanted to bring you the story of a business in Ukraine and what the war has meant to them. So, through contacts in the local Ukrainian community we made contact with Arno Klijbroek a Dutch man who 25 years ago moved to live in Ukraine, setting up a business there importing flower seeds and vegetable processing equipment. 

The National Enterprise Awards are due to take place at the Mansion House, Dublin in June, and last week we spoke with FeedAlpha the company who will represent Carlow at the awards, while it was announced that Cushendale Woollen Mills will be the company representing Kilkenny. To tell us more about their business, John spoke with Philip and Miriam Cushen, the father and daughter team who are the fifth and sixth generation of their family running Cushendale. Fidelis Doherty, Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council and Fiona Deegan, Head of Enterprise at Kilkenny Local Enterprise Office chatted about why Cushendale is such a worthy representative of Kilkenny.

Donal O Donoghue, President of the Employment and Recruitment Federation spoke with John about how their organisation can support people from Ukraine arriving in Ireland through employment and training services.

With thanks to O’Neill Foley, Produced by Deirdre Dromey.

To contact the show, email: [email protected]

In this bonus episode of The Bottom Line we hear an extended interview with Economist Jim Power. Jim spoke to John about the recently released final Gross Domestic Product and economic growth numbers for 2021 and what this data can tell us about the Irish economy. Jim tells us about modified domestic demand which tries to capture what consumers are doing, spending and taxation as well as investment in the economy excluding the multinational activity.  Jim also spoke about the events in Russia and Ukraine and what the potential implications may be.

Jim Power chatted to John about the final GDP and Economic growth numbers for 2021 which were released last Friday. Jim also spoke about the events in Russia and Ukraine and what the potential implications may be.

Stryve is a Carlow based company formed in January 2019 when two local companies T2 and VCloud came together. Andrew Tobin, CEO of Carlow Company Stryve spoke with John about his companies’ latest achievements and expansion in the burgeoning field of cloud computing services and cyber security.         

Retail is a sector which is hugely important to the economy and one which has experienced huge disruption over the last number of years. Retail expert James Burke chatted with John about how this sector has changed, developed, and adapted over the last two years and what is the key to success to this hugely important business sector.

The National Enterprise Awards will be held in Dublin’s Mansion House in June. The event sees companies chosen in each county around the country all receiving recognition with one being chosen as the overall business of the year. To hear more about the event John was joined by Séamus Doran, Assistant Head of Economic Development & Enterprise with the Local Enterprise Office and Gary Evans of Founder of FeedAlpha the company chosen to represent Carlow at this year's awards.

Filling in for John Purcell on The Bottom Line this week was Edwina Grace, who spoke with Minster of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan. Minister Noonan joined Edwina to tell us more about the recently published Town Centre First Policy and what this new strategy will mean for our local towns throughout the two counties.

With Invoice Redirect Fraud being a constant threat to businesses up and down the country, Edwina was joined by Sgt Peter McConnon, Crime Prevention Officer who spoke about what invoice redirect fraud is, what businesses need to be on the lookout for, as well as offering advice on how to prevent this sort of crime from occurring within your organisation.

Anne Zahan, Strategy Director at Core joined Edwina to chat about their “Predict 2022” research which examines consumer expectations for 2022, the report also provides insights into consumer behaviours throughout the pandemic and which ones we are mostly likely to retain. 

The Michelin Great Britain and Ireland Guide 2022 was announced during the week with Kilkenny restaurants Campagne and The Lady Helen at Mount Juliet Estate both retaining their star. Garrett Byrne, Head Chef and Co-Owner of Campagne spoke with Edwina about business over the last two years and what it takes to retain the Michelin Star, while Mark Dunne, General Manager at Mount Juliet Estate spoke about the teamwork, dedication and commitment involved in retaining a Michelin star. Mark also spoke about the challenges that the industry has faced over the last number of years and preparing for the Irish Open.

With thanks to O’Neill Foley, Produced by Deirdre Dromey.

To contact the show, email: [email protected]

"Twenty Questions" on The Bottom Line is our monthly feature where we ask our guest twenty questions that have been designed to give you an insight into the individual outside of their role in business. Our latest guest was Marion Acreman, Centre Manager at MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre.