Taking Stock

This week on Taking Stock Joe Lynam is in for Mandy Johnston and he looks at the tangled narrative of Brexit when he talks to author Josh White whose book ‘Goodbye United Kingdom: Descent into Chaos 2015-2022’ chronicles the Brexit crisis and all that that it has meant since.With Minister for Finance Pascal Donohue telling people they are free to deposit their money in foreign banks for better interest rates we take a look at what’s available and how easy or hard it is when Joe talks to Sinead Ryan,And finally news this week from the CSO has found that 1 in 5 CEO’S are female. Joe is joined by  Gillian Hartford of the 30percent club and Caroline Bocquel the Chief Executive Officer with Bord Iascaigh Mhara to see if things are actually getting better in board room when it comes to gender equality.

Tackling the supply side of the drugs market will never be enough; that's the conclusion of the Currency who have been looking into the issue of drug use in Ireland. This week on Taking Stock Mandy Johnston is joined by Thomas Hubert to take us through what they found.  Now we know that culture eats strategy every time, Frank Devine, specializes in creating a High-Performance culture and he talks to Mandy about his new book ‘Rapid Mass Engagement’.  And finally - Elon’s at it again. As Musk threatens to take on Ireland in the courts we’ll catch up with Elaine Byrne to find out what's going on at X.

This week on Taking Stock Mandy Johnston is joined by Congressman Brendan Boyle, rising star in the Democratic party to talk about his recent trip to Ireland where he addressed Dail Eireann and he’ll be giving us his take on the US political landscape as they prepare for Primaries. Boundless changes in boundaries this week as the Electoral Commission sets out the map for the next election and while it may not be a starting gun the bullets are now loaded. Gary Murphy of DCU and Jennifer Kavanagh Constitutional Law Expert takes us through what they mean.Germany the economic powerhouse of Europe faces a lot of challenges. It has dipped into recession and Derek Scally of the Irish Times assess if Germany is now the sick man of Europe.

This week on Taking Stock Mandy Johnston talks to Veteran Journalist Dermot Murnaghan ahead of his appearance at the Kennedy Summer School next week and talks to him about his long life in journalism covering some of the defining moments of our time.  Rudy Giuliani has turned himself in to authorities at a jail in Atlanta, Georgia this week. But who is Rudi Guiliani? Mandy looks at one of the most divisive American political figures of our time when she talks to Llyod Green,  a New York Attorney who has served in the US Department of Justice.And finally Finance Minister Michael McGrath is said to be putting pressure on our banking sector to pass on some of their windfall profits to customers - while we wait for the mismatch to be rectified - is there something else you could be doing with your money to get a better return? Mandy talk to Ellie Donnolly Senior Business Reporter at the Business Post.

Shane Duffy from Savills discusses converting office spaces into homes. Oliver Eagleton sheds light on Keir Starmer. Pauline O'Flanagan talks about challenges facing Ireland's engineering sector and the Budget 2024 submission by Engineering Industries Ireland.

On this week's Taking Stock Podcast: Cliff Taylor of the Irish Times explains why mega projects like the MetroLink and the Children's Hospital take so long and cost so much in Ireland. Nigel Doolin, co-founder and managing director at Core Bullion joins Mandy to explain the value of holding your money in gold and why is it one of the most stable assets to have. And the banking sector in Ireland has revealed massive profits in recent weeks, Sean Keyes of the Currency takes us through their latest set of bumper results.

Hannah Daly, Professor in Sustainable Energy and Energy Systems Modelling at UCC joins Mandy to discuss the government's National Hydrogen Strategy. In the political arena, the debates surrounding rail and road options have caused much debate leaving both policymakers and the public in a state of confusion. Mandy gets the insights of Edgar Morgenroth, Professor of Economics at Dublin City University Business School. We discuss new research that discloses an alarming trend in the United States which shows a growing acceptance of violence as a means to achieve political objectives. Kira Lerner, Democracy Editor for Guardian US joins us to examine the implications of this disconcerting phenomenon.

As a raft of big companies leave the Irish Stock Exchange, this week on Taking Stock Mandy Johnston asks why they are leaving and explores the importance of having a stock exchange here in Ireland with Donal MacNameee from the Business Post. While Vladimir Putin was clearly prepared for the initial economic impact of the war in Ukraine, the conflict has dragged on far longer than he expected. As Putin runs out of options Mandy talks to Melissa Lawford of The Daily Telegraph about what it means for the future of the war. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez engineered a late swing during the final days of the Spanish election campaign to deny his right-wing opponents a majority in parliament. Mandy looks at the predictions that were made by pollsters, how things transpired and what might happen next and asks could Spain be headed for another election? She chats to journalist Aitor Hernández-Morales.

This week on Taking Stock Mandy Johnston talks to the Financial Times’ Legal Correspondent Joe Miller about Donald Trump’s latest possible Indictment. Linda Daly of the Sunday Times chats to Mandy about why Approved Housing Bodies might be the future of home building in Ireland. And finally Mandy talks to James Mayger, China Economy Editor at Bloomberg about China’s economic wobble.

This week on Taking Stock as Irish Universities make major gains on the QS World Rankings Mandy Johnston examines their relevance as Irish students are making their choices this Summer. As the world of work continues to change and evolve post- Covid many tech titans like Apple, Google, Meta have demanded staff show up to the office at least three days a week as new research shows that contrary to what we have come to believe, working from home is not as productive as being at work. Mandy talks to Chris Kane the author of Where is My Office? Reimagining the Workplace for the 21st Century. And finally with three by-elections taking place in the UK next week, we hear from FT’s Political Editor George Parker about what we can expect and how they will affect Rishi Sunak’s leadership as the Tory Party heads for a political thrashing.