The Business

Joining us now is a man who is a big believer that those who are better paid should work longer than those who are lower paid. Simon Kuper of the Financial Times is in Paris, where riots have been taking place about the increased retirement age from 62 to 64.

First, an inspirational story of a mother and daughter in business, two different businesses. Clare Connolly started her career in pharma, but changed to property just before the last crash. She is a single mum to Aimee Connolly, who although only 30, has a multi million euro cosmetics business with triple digit growth each year. Her brand Sculped was recently launched in the UK and the Middle East.

TikTok is the social media app normally associated with pranks, dance moves and DIY renovations. But it’s dangerous infiltrations rather than renovations that authorities in the US are worried about. Some in Washington have expressed concerns that the Chinese Government could use the app to spy on American users, spread propaganda or gain access to US user data. Liz Carolan, Executive Director at Digital Action joins us now to discuss.

Sticking with the world of finance, and lessons we could learn from the past. As I mentioned earlier the newspapers headlines this morning are looking at falling European Bank Shares. We’re joined now by Mark Blythe, Political economist at Brown University.

Now from lessons in business, to some history lessons. Colm Kelleher was this week announced as the man to lead the €3 billion rescue of Swiss bank Credit Suisse. A couple of surprising nuggets about the Cork man who spent 30 years at Morgan Stanley is that as well as being a chartered accountant he also has the keys to the City of Florence and a Masters Degree in Modern History from Oxford University. Historian Niamh Puirséil thinks that it’s a degree that more bankers should consider acquiring!

It was another turbulent week in the banking sector. Following the collapse eight days ago of America's 16th-largest lender, Silicon Valley Bank, two days later, New York's Signature Bank also failed. And, closer to home, on Wednesday, the embattled Credit Suisse bank received a liquidity lifeline from Swiss National Bank. While the uncertainty in the banking sector was reflected in a jumpiness in the financial markets, on Thursday, the European Central Bank pushed ahead with another half-point interest rate hike, the sixth since July, raising its main refinancing rate to 3.5%. To discuss the implications of all of this, I’m joined now in studio by the former Governor of the Central Bank Patrick Honohan.

Earlier in the programme we were chatting to Patrick Honohan about issues surrounding the recent bailout of Silicon Valley Bank in America. As has been widely reported, that bank built its business around tech, a sector which has also been in the news a lot lately because of lay-offs in some of its biggest companies, the most recent of which was announced by Meta earlier this week. So what does this mean for people working in the sector? I’m joined now by Rena Maycock, CEO and founder of Cilter Child Protection Software, and columnist with The Currency

Earlier we heard from restaurateur Patrick Guildbaud about his life and times in the restaurant industry. Staying with the hospitality theme, you might have heard recently that plans are afoot to reboot the BBC hit comedy Fawlty Towers. In light of the prospect of the return of Torquay’s most famous fictional hotel, Siofra Mulqueen has been asking some people in the industry about occasions when they found themselves channelling their inner Basil Fawlty.

This year’s annual St Patricks Day delegation to Washington was knocked slightly off kilter when Taoieach Leo Varadkar had to issue an apology for a joke he made about his time as an intern at the White House which made an oblique reference to former US President Bill Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky. But the art of diplomacy isn’t confined to world leaders. We all know people who instinctively seem to know the right thing to say and when to say it. So do diplomatic skills make for success in the workplace? And can they be learned? Former Ambassador to the UK and EU, Bobby McDonagh, and Consultant psychologist, Louize Carroll, have joined me in studio.

My next guest runs one of Ireland’s best-known and most high-end restaurants. From his first premises off Baggot Street in Dublin where he set up shop in 1981, he was awarded a Michelin star in 1988, followed by a second star fifteen years later which made him the first Irish restaurateur ever to win two Michelin stars. In the early years, many people were horrified at the tiny size of his portions and the absence of potatoes from most of his dishes but it didn’t take long for him to earn the respect and affection of Irish people, many of whom never even have set foot inside his restaurant. That restaurant is now located next to the Merrion Hotel where he’s been in situe since 1997. Patrick Guidbaud, you’re very welcome.