Irish Times Inside Business

This week we’re flying high with the Irish drone delivery company Manna.

Its founder and chief executive is Bobby Healy, who joined host Ciarán Hancock in studio to discuss what he believes is Manna’s massive growth potential.

Set up in 2019, Manna only recently began generating revenues and is yet to turn a profit. It is currently flying nine drones in Dublin 15 and has made more than 170,000 deliveries in Ireland so far.

Conall Mac Coille, chief economist at Bank of Ireland, joins Cliff Taylor and Ciaran Hancock to talk about Irish economic and business news:

• RPZ reform: will changes to rules for landlords and tenants help bring investment to Ireland
• IFAC report: why Ireland's corporate tax receipts may be about to boom again. But will it last?

Produced in association with EY.

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Donald Trump’s second term in the White House has seen markets go through a period of extreme volatility, something that has worried many Irish pension holders.

How should they react? Should they react at all? And what is the outlook for the rest of this year?

Munro O’Dwyer is a partner at PwC Ireland and joins host Cliff Taylor in studio to discuss managing your pension in volatile times.

In the second half of this epis...

New electric vehicle sales here dipped last year by 24% when compared to 2023, further making a mockery of the government’s target of 1 million EVs on Irish roads by 2030.

A reduction in the SEAI grant and gaps in charging infrastructure fed into consumer uncertainty when it comes to making the switch from petrol and diesel vehicles.

But that trend looks to be reversing this year, something that Lisa Brankin, chairman and man...

This week brought more bad news for first time buyers and those renting.

Figures from both the CSO and property website Daft.ie suggest that house prices and rents continue to soar across the country.

The national monthly average rent between January and March surpassed €2,000 for the first time. And the chronic shortage of supply for those looking to buy put house price inflation at 7.5% in March.

To discuss these number...

This week’s episode of Inside Business starts with an interview with Irish entrepreneur Jordan Dargan.

Fans of the popular BBC show The Apprentice, will have seen Jordan come within a whisker of reaching the final two who got to pitch to secure Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment.

There was some consolation for the 22-year-old Dubliner with Lord Sugar giving him his business card before he left the boardroom and encouraging...

Earlier this week, US meal delivery group DoorDash agreed a deal to take over its British rival Deliveroo, which has a big presence in Ireland.

The deal is valued at £2.9 billion and will pit the merged group in competition with other online delivery platforms such as Just Eat and Uber Eats.

Callum Cant is an author and senior lecturer from the University of Essex and also worked for Deliveroo while he was in college.

He j...

This week Inside Business looks at the impact of Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office on markets.

The sweeping US tariffs announced on April 2nd rocked equity and bond markets.

They plunged in value to such an extent that Donald Trump was forced into a quick U Turn, postponing all of the tariffs for 90 days, with the exception of China.

Aidan Donnelly is Head of Global Equities at Davy stockbrokers and joined host...

This week’s episode features Patrick Guilbaud, the French chef who brought fine dining to Ireland 44 years ago.

Situated beside the Merrion Hotel in central Dublin, Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud continues to thrive with two Michelin stars.

Guilbaud moved to Ireland in the early 1980’s when the country was in recession, and it wasn’t always plain sailing. A visit from the sheriff for unpaid debts led to a partnership with succ...

Kerrygold is one of the biggest food brands in Ireland and one of our largest exports.

Earlier today, its parent company Ornua announced that revenues last year were flat at €3.4 billion but its operating profit and Ebitda were up, helped by efficiencies achieved during the period.

But that was last year. Before Donald Trump won the US presidential election and later announced sweeping tariffs on all imported goods.

Kerryg...

A full-blown global tariff war in underway.

Donald’s Trump’s tariffs took effect last night with the EU due to vote today on a retaliatory list drawn up by the European Commission.

The US and China meanwhile have engaged in tit for tat tariffs in the past few days. China has also vowed to fight to the end in the tariff war.

What will all this mean for Ireland? What hit will consumers face?

And should Ireland now pivot e...

Last week data from the CSO showed a decline of 30 per cent in the number of visitors to the country in February, with revenue taking a hit of €88 million during the month.

This continued a trend dating back to last September.

In this week’s episode of Inside Business, you’ll hear conflicting views from the trade on the current state of the tourism sector here.

Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, CEO of the Irish Tourist Industry Confede...

In the first part of this week’s episode of Inside Business, we look at Tesla and the backlash against the vehicle car maker this year because of Elon Musk’s association with Donald Trump.

Sales in Europe have slumped while its share price has shed 24 per cent of its value year to date. That amounts to about $800 billion of market value being wiped out.

In addition, there have been many protests and reports of Tesla’s being ...

On this week’s episode of Inside Business, we discuss US President Donald Trump’s intention to impose new reciprocal tariff rates on EU countries and elsewhere from April 2nd.

What are reciprocal tariffs and how will Ireland be affected? Will we be singled out?

What is coming down the line in terms of ‘special tariffs’, and their potential impact on big exports from Ireland to the US? And what possible options are avai...

This week, Inside Business host Ciarán Hancock is joined by Tony Smurfit, president and CEO of Smurfit WestRock, the biggest paper and packaging group in the world.

Last month he was chosen as Irish Times business person of the year for successfully concluding a combination of Smurfit Kappa Group with American company WestRock in a $24 billion deal. The Dublin-based company is now the leading player in its sector.

Grandson of...

This week’s guest on Inside Business is Leo Crawford, who recently stepped down as the head of BWG Group after nearly 40 years with the business.

BWG is a wholesale group at heart that supplies groceries to a large network of shops in Ireland and the southwest of England under a variety of retail brands, including Spar, Eurospar, Mace and Londis.

Leo will recall the boom times of the Celtic Tiger years, through a couple of ma...

This week host Ciarán Hancock is joined in studio by Dublin publican and Managing Director of Grand Slam Bars, Noel Anderson.

The pub group is jointly owned by former Irish rugby internationals Rob Kearney, his brother David, Jamie Heaslip and Sean O’Brien.

They own the Bridge bar in Ballsbridge, the Blackrock pub in the Dublin coastal suburb, the Lemon & Duke and Little Lemon in the city centre and its most recent purch...

Earlier this month, Red Flag Global, an Irish-based strategic communications firm was acquired by New York-based Ankura Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm.

The financial details weren’t revealed but it is understood that the price tag on the deal was €45 million.

Founded in 2013 by Karl Brophy, the company was chaired by Gavin O’Reilly, son of Tony O’Reilly and a former chief executive of Independent News &...

In the past week, Taoiseach Micheal Martin has suggested that the Rent Pressure Zone system could be scrapped and that tax breaks could be introduced to help incentivise developers to build more apartments and houses.

Would these measures make rents more affordable for tenants? Or boost the supply of affordable new homes?

To tease out this tricky political issue, Inside Business host Ciarán Hancock was joined in studio by Dub...