The Business

Greta Thunberg and other climate protestors at Davos this week. The climate crisis was one of the big topics at the World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland. Also this week PWC published a report suggesting ways that Ireland can become a global leader in climate technology. We’re joined by one of the authors of that report, David McGee of PwC Ireland.

Sticking with the world of tech, but the story of a geeky kid whose family gave him the deeds to a chunk of the family farm to underwrite his first business loan. Martin McKay runs TextHelp, an assistive educational technology company, with revenues of over €30 million in 2021 and 350 employees internationally in the UK, the US, Scandinavia and Belfast city.

There was quite a bit of coverage of Argos' decision to shut up shop this week with the loss of 580 jobs. It’s a tough blow for the workers and the retail sector. There were memories shared too of only moments that Argos could inspire. To look at some of those, we’re joined by Retail Consultant Eddie Shanahan and Emma Power of 2FM

Imagine unwittingly outing yourself as a wagon. That would hurt. But actor and writer Tara Flynn says it’s not always the words that matter, it’s the way that you say them.

First to the job cuts announcement at Google’s parent company Alphabet. The behemoth of all tech companies has decided to axe 12,000 jobs worldwide. Google employs 4,000 directly in Ireland, 7,000 when contractors are included. So how will it play out here? We’re joined by tech journalist Elaine Burke

My next guest became something of an online sensation at the height of the pandemic when he started posting videos of himself playing his cello outside his cottage in rural Mayo. On foot of the exposure he gained from those videos, he was asked to play at an event, albeit online, attended by Joe Biden. Patrick Dexter joins me now in studio.

In light of what can only be described as a fairly spectacular pivot on behalf of the former Sex Pistols frontman this week, our thoughts turned to some high profile pivots in the world of business. I’m joined in studio by Aifric O’Connell who has been looking at some companies who changed direction and thrived in the process

2022 is generally regarded as having been a challenging year for business. Soaring interest rates curtailed investment across the board, particularly in technology, which is one of the sectors that Enterprise Ireland has always tended to be most active in. Despite the strong headwinds which the jobs creation agency would have been heading into this time last year, according to figures published earlier this week, 2022 was actually a very good year for Enterprise Ireland. I’m joined now in studio by the CEO of Enterprise Ireland, Leo Clancy

A survey by the European Central Bank this week found that Irish people expressed the third highest preference for using cash in the eurozone. Despite this sentiment, data from our own Central Bank tells us that ATM withdrawals have plunged by 30% in value since before the pandemic. As we appear to be shuttling towards an increasingly cashless society, Siofra Mulqueen has been chatting to some people with fond memories of the halcyon days of cash in hand.

When British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed a desire last week to make some form of maths compulsory on the school curriculum until the age of 18, his proposal was met with a fairly hostile reaction, which probably came as a surprise to most people in this country since maths is obviously already embedded in the Leaving Cert curriculum. But although we would appear to have the edge on Britain in that regard, a recent study found that one in four Irish adults say that they have difficulty using basic maths in everyday life. I’m joined now by Professor Brien Nolan from the School of Mathematical Sciences at DCU and Karl Deeter, financial analyst and CEO of financialapplications.com in studio now to discuss.