Accountancy Ireland

Our Election Insights series continues by focusing on the main parties' election manifestos regarding childcare. Chartered Accountants Ireland's Director of Public Affairs, Crona Clohisey, and Head of Public Policy, Stephen Lowry, compare the parties' commitments to improving childcare for working parents.

It's election week, and in the run-up to polling day, Chartered Accountants Ireland's public policy team have analysed the main parties' manifestos to examine what each is saying on some of the key topics of interest to Institute members. In the first of this special Election Insights series, the Institute’s Director of Public Affairs, Crona Clohisey, and Head of Public Policy, Stephen Lowry, discuss the various parties' commitments to support small business.

Budget 2025 was Minister for Finance Jack Chambers's first budget in the finance portfolio, but it is, nonetheless, the last budget package we will see from the current Government before we enter a general election cycle. Crona Clohisey, Director of Public Affairs at Chartered Accountants Ireland, Sarah Meredith, Tax Partner at Grant Thornton and Stephen Lowry, Head of Public Policy at Chartered Accountants Ireland discuss what the budget contained and who it missed.

In the second part of a two-part series, Accountancy Ireland talks to Zara Duffy, Aoife Hamilton and Paula O’Neill about how parents are feeling let down by the current childcare system in Northern Ireland and how survey findings show that it has become increasingly difficult to juggle childcare responsibilities and a career, as the cost of appropriate childcare has gradually become unaffordable.

At the end of 2023, Chartered Accountants Ireland set up a series of focus groups to gather members' views on childcare, and the findings were stark. Parents are coming against rising costs and dwindling space in creches, as well as the current system's impact on careers, working days, and business operations. In part one of a two-part series, Sinead Donovan, Emma Fidgeon-Kavanagh, and Cróna Clohisey discuss what could be done to improve the childcare system in Ireland.

Exploring the ethical dimensions of generative AI, experts Barry Scannell and Daniel Malan, join Michael Diviney and Liz Riley to delve into issues of accountability, societal impact, regulation and the responsible development and deployment of these powerful technologies.

In a budget announced against a backdrop of high interest and continued inflationary pressures, the government was seen to give a little bit to everyone. Crona Clohisey, Tax Leader at Chartered Accountants Ireland, Sarah Meredith, Tax Partner at Grant Thornton and Ken Garvey, Partner at Garvey Moran discuss Budget 2024.

In this special Budget 2023 episode, Brid Heffernan, Tax and Public Policy Leader at Chartered Accountants Ireland, Sarah Meredith, Tax Director at Grant Thornton and Matt Dolan, Tax Partner at Deloitte discuss the recently budget announcement from Government.

What are the social and circular economies, and are they now necessary sources of innovation and new thinking for mainstream business? We discuss these alternative economic models with Claire Downey, Policy and Research Director at the Rediscovery Centre, Chris MM Gordan, CEO of the Irish Social Enterprise Network and Kate van der Merwe, member of the Institute’s Sustainability Expert Working Group. 

Diversity, equity and inclusion has been discussed as part of the Irish business agenda for a few years. And while we have a firm grasp on diversity, it seems that some organisations are coming up short on inclusion. What is the meaning of inclusion and how should organisations be embedding into their culture? In this special Thought Leaders series from the Accountancy Ireland podcast, Liz Riley and Michael Diviney discuss with Stephanie Good, Director and Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Lead at PwC Ireland, and Mark Fenton, Chartered Accountant and CEO of MASF Consulting, Diversity & Inclusion specialists.

Liz Riley speaks to Brendan McGurgan, Co-Founder of Simple Scaling, Michelle Halloran, HR and people management consultant and Paul Slattery, Founder & Managing Director of NxtGEN Executive Presence about the ever-morphing leadership role and what that means for businesses, management and employees going forward.

In this special Thought Leaders series from the Accountancy Ireland podcast, Liz Riley and Michael Diviney speak to experts Dr Mary Collins and Rachel Killeen on the challenges facing working parents and what society has learned from the pandemic.

In this special Budget 2022 episode, Norah Collender, Tax Leader at Chartered Accountants Ireland, Peter Vale, Tax Partner at Grant Thornton and Matt Dolan, Tax Partner at Deloitte discuss the recently budget announcement from Government.

Sustainability and ESG continue to the be a focus of the business and investment community. Susan Rossney, Barry Dempsey (Chartered Accountants Ireland) and Edel O'Reilly (Goodbody) discuss the role of accountants in the fight against climate change and its consequences.

In the middle of April, the US announced their support for a global corporate tax rate – getting the whole world talking; Ireland in particular. Cormac Kelleher, Norah Collender, Dr Brian Keegan discuss what this means for the EU, the OECD, the US and Ireland.

The COVID-19 pandemic, extended lockdowns and Brexit moved 2021 into an interesting position. Dawn McLaughlin, owner of Dawn McLaughlin & Co; Neil Gibson, Chief Economist at EY; and Crona Clohisey, Public Policy leader in Chartered Accountants Ireland discuss the state of the island economy and the possible outlook for businesses.

Liz Riley speaks to Wendy Merrigan, Conor Woods and James Kelliher about what obstacles they foresee for SMEs in 2021, how their businesses have coped in 2020 and the lessons they have learned during the pandemic.

Paul Dillion and Peter Vale talk to Norah Collender about tax supports for businesses as announced in Budget 2021 and have an interesting discussion on the state of play for Ireland in the context of international tax reform. Peter and Paul also share their experiences of running a business in a Level 3 restriction environment.

In this short, special series, we speak to members about the flexible route to Chartered Accountancy and how it has shaped their careers. In our final episode, we speak to Shaun McGlade, Managing Director of SMCG Ltd.

In this short, special series, we speak to members about the flexible route to Chartered Accountancy and how it has shaped their careers. In our third episode, we speak to Vera Sackitey, an Internal Auditor with PwC.