The Business

Now we’re joined by a woman who has built a career and business in the beauty industry over the last thirty years. Coming from a family with a strong entrepreneurial streak, she made the leap from working in the industry to setting up her own clinic back in 2006. After only a couple of years in business, she found herself on the verge of bankruptcy after being tied into a 25 year lease. She has since turned that around and is one of the leading practitioners in Ireland’s ‘aesthetics’ industry which is estimated to be worth €200m a year. Eavanna Breen, Founder and Clinical Director of Akina Beauty and Laser Clinic, newly renamed this week the Eavanna Breen Skin and Laser Clinic.

Being the weekend that’s in it, we could hardly let the programme go by without mentioning chocolate. The value of chocolate sales in Ireland last year was estimated to be worth just over €395m. And according to Bord Bia, approximately 40% of chocolate sales are at Easter. One sector of the market which has grown significantly in recent years is amongst artisan producers. With her golden ticket in hand, Siofra Mulqueen went out to visit some of Ireland’s boutique chocolate factories.

New figures released this week revealed that corporate insolvencies soared by 70% year on year in the first three months of the year, and also revealed there has been a slowdown in the number of start-ups getting off the ground… Rising costs and lingering economic uncertainty are some of the obvious factors being cited to explain these trends and the pressure which many Irish companies are under. To discuss all of this, I’m joined now by Bill Holohan, a legal expert in insolvency law …and author of “Buying and Selling Insolvent Companies”

Happy April Fools Day! You’ve probably been thinking up some pranks to pull or maybe you’ve already been pranked. Luckily many of you will not be in office today to have the letters on your keyboard rearranged or your filing cabinet filled with fish. Comedy Writer Aidan Fitzmaurice is in favour of craic in the workplace, unless it’s the manufactured fun type craic.

Now we’re joined by a man who himself is very familiar with building walls of a different kind and also the ups and downs of the economy here. Hugh Wallace is an award winning architect and founding partner of Douglas Wallace Consultants. His career journey has seen him set up a practice that employed 160 people, it imploded in the crash, but he’s back up and running. He’s a familiar face on our screens fronting shows such as RTE’s Great House Revival, My Bungalow Bliss and Home of the Year.

First this morning let’s go Stateside. Donald Trump’s defence lawyer says the former president will not be put in handcuffs. He’s due to surrender to prosecutors on Tuesday in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. Protests were expected in New York last night, Terry Sheridan, News director of WSHU public radio in New York joins us now.

More and more people are deciding to convert commercial buildings such as shops, pubs and even banks into homes. Ellen Leonard has been finding out more

Bullying, sexual assaults, mobbing, and a force that barely tolerates women these are just some of the incidents outlined in an independent review of the Irish defence forces. But how does an organisation get rid of such a toxic culture? We’re joined by Patricia Scanlon, Founder and Executive Chair of Soapbox Labs, she has worked across academia, big tech multinational companies as well as setting up her own start up, and Ian Robertson Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin and author of How Confidence Works.

"Succession", the hit show has hit its final series, with huge audiences of 2.3 million. But is Succession’s ending also the ending to a remarkable era of Hollywood: the phenomenon known as “peak TV”. Some believe so. We’re joined by Media columnist for The Irish Times Laura Slattery.

Well sticking with the passing of time but in a different kind of way. Tonight the clocks are going to spring forward, giving us one hour less in bed, but more daylight in the evenings. Siofra Mulqueen has been catching up with some people who can’t wait for that extra hour for work and play.