Taking Stock

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Oct 10, 2025 • 47min

Peak Social Media, Firey French Economics and a Changing Mortgage Landscape

This week on Taking Stock Susan Hayes Culleton looks at the growing trend of people tuning away from social media when she talks to regular tech contributors Chris Stokel-Walker and Elaine Burke.  With France going through more political and economic turmoil, Susan is joined by Mike O’Sullivan, author of The Levelling.Plus, with more mortgage providers entering the market, Susan talks to Michael Dowling from Irish Mortgage Brokers about how the market might be changing.
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Oct 3, 2025 • 47min

The Economics of the Presidency

With the campaigns to be the next Irish President in full swing, this week on Taking Stock Susan looks at how much candidates are spending and what is the cost of the office to the economy, when she talks to Tech and Democracy Strategist Liz Carolan.Norway is always held up as the ‘best-in-class’ when it comes to managing the public finances and Susan take a deep dive into Norwegian economic Miracle when she talks to Allister Doyle the former Oslo Bureau chief at Reuters Plus, in the run up to the budget Susan talks to Michelle Murphy of Social Justice Ireland about how a society is more than just an economy.
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Sep 26, 2025 • 50min

The Commercial success of 'The Traitors Ireland'

With the huge success of The Traitors Ireland, this week on Taking Stock Susan Hayes Culleton talks to Jill Downey, Managing Director of Core Sponsorship, who led negotiations on all the major brand deals for the show.With more and more companies spending eye-watering amounts of money on AI, Susan talks to Melissa Heikkila of the Financial Times about where this money is going and to what end.Plus, a new report suggests that under current policies, oil and gas use could actually keep rising all the way to 2050, putting the world on course for dangerous levels of warming. Susan talks to Paul Deane, Senior Lecturer in Clean Energy Futures at University College Cork.
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Sep 19, 2025 • 48min

The allure of the 15-Minute City

This week on Taking Stock Susan Hayes Culleton looks at the idea of the ’15-Minute’ city, where urban planning allows for residents to be only ever 15 minutes away from everything and anything they need. She is joined by Aitor Hernández-Morales of Politico.Sinead Ryan talks to Susan about the changing saving and spending habits of Gen Z.Plus, Susan debates the merits of scrapping ‘earnings’ calls as President Trump has called for, when she chats to Russ Mould of AJ Bell.
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Sep 12, 2025 • 48min

Is there anybody out there? Customer service in the age of AI.

This week on Taking Stock Susan Hayes Culleton looks at how agentic AI is changing and maybe making customer service a lot poorer when she talks to Elaine Burke of the ‘For Tech’s Sake’ Podcast and Ecommerce expert Vinny O’Brien.With an eventful week for the Murdoch Family, Susan talks to Hannah Miller of Bloomberg about their new ‘succession’ plan.Plus, in a week where the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council tells government to slow down on spending, Susan talks to IFAC chairman Seamus Coffey.   
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Sep 5, 2025 • 46min

What Does Irish Business really want?

This week on Taking Stock Susan Hayes Culleton convenes a panel of some of Ireland’s busiest entrepreneurs when she talks to Pat McDonagh of Supermac’s, Lorriane Heskin of Gourmet Food Parlour and John Purdy of Ergo. We hear what they think the government needs to do to improve the landscape for indigenous Irish companies.Plus, with a possible IMF bailout being mentioned in France, Susan talks to Sarah Collins of the Business Post in Brussels about where France is heading.
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Aug 29, 2025 • 50min

Are Farmers Markets the most circular thing in our economy?

This week on Taking Stock Susan Hayes Culleton talks to Darina Allen of Ballymaloe Cookery School and Jack Spillane of Spillane World Markets about the economics of Farmers and Food Markets.Susan also looks at the economic impact of Ireland’s rising population when she talks to planning expert Conor Skehan and Professor of Geography at Maynooth University Mary Gilmartin.Plus, with the news that Germany are going to start giving each child 10 Euros to invest every month Susan talks to Olaf Storbeck of the Financial Times about Germany’s faltering economy.
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Aug 22, 2025 • 44min

Is Ireland not as wealthy as headline GDP figures suggest?

This week on Taking Stock, Susan HayesCulleton speaks to Reuters reporter Ann Saphir about what’s going on at Jackson Hole and why the annual event is so important for global economics. With Electric Picnic coming into focus, Susan lifts the hood on the economics of music festivals with Conor Hughes, Business Director at Core Research.Plus, as 'The Economist' bluntly claims, Ireland is not rich. Susan gets the perspective of Kate English, Chief Economist with Deloitte Ireland & economist Jim Power.
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Aug 15, 2025 • 49min

Defence spending surges: What does it mean for Europe?

This week on Taking Stock with Susan HayesCulleton: - Across Europe, defence spending is surging to levels not seen in decades. Declan Power, Security and Defence Analyst, joins Susan to discuss where defence spending goes, what it is preventing, and explore what the economic and policy implications may be for the bloc in the coming years. - We hear from Miri Rodriguez, the co-author of The Women of Microsoft: Stories of Innovation, a collection of voices from across the company that shine a light on resilience, creativity, and the ongoing challenges women face in tech. - Plus, as the Premier League kicks off, we’ll be diving into the macro and micro economics of one of the world’s biggest sporting juggernauts with James Reade, Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Reading.
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Aug 8, 2025 • 47min

Why are people swiping left on the whole idea of dating apps?

This week on Taking Stock with Susan HayesCulleton: - Following the publication of Revenue’s Taxation of Income from Social Media and Promotional Activities guidelines, Susan is joined by Mairead O’Driscoll, professional tax advisor, aka The Tax Nerd & Mark Corcoran, Marketing Manager at Taxback, to find out what it all means for content creators in Ireland. - We’ll be finding out how your brain and body hold the keys to leading smarter, not harder with Dr. Scott Hutcheson, author of Biohacking Leadership: Leveraging the Biology of Behavior to Maximize Your Impact. - Plus, we find out why online daters are swiping left on the whole idea of dating apps like Tinder & Bumble with Dr. Kathryn Coduto, Assistant Professor of Media Science at Boston University.

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