BusinessPlus

Who or what has most influenced your leadership style? My leadership style has been influenced most by the people I’ve led. So, rather than one particular figure over the years of managing different people, I definitely got the most from [all] their feedback, what was effective, what wasn’t effective. Through that I suppose [I learned] self-awareness and the ability to ask the questions. I really like feedback. I think it’s really important and I adapted my leadership style accordingly.

In June, Bank of Ireland launched a new digital marketplace aimed at making it simpler and quicker for consumers to switch to electric vehicles (EVs). Developed in partnership with dedicated EV platform Nevo, it brings together EV education, tools to compare models and options and the ability to arrange a test drive, alongside integrated Bank of Ireland finance solutions.

How much of our power comes from wind farms currently? Onshore wind energy is probably one of this country’s greatest energy success stories, with about a third of Ireland’s electricity coming from onshore wind energy every single year. The very first onshore wind farm started life back in Mayo in 1992 and over the last 34 years we’ve added wind farms in different parts of the country. They’ve modernised, they’ve developed, and they’re now producing about a third of Ireland’s electricity.

WLR has unveiled two new electric vehicles for its Street Team as the radio station gears up for its busiest summer ever in terms of outside broadcasts and live events. The latest additions bring WLR's electric fleet to four vehicles and reinforce the company's commitment to sustainability. This summer, the WLR Street Team and its solar powered Outside Broadcast Unit will travel thousands of kilometres, broadcasting live from some of the biggest events across Waterford City and County.

Fossil fuels continue to dominate the Irish energy system, accounting for more than 70% of the country's energy requirement last year. Figures from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) show that four-fifths (78.2%) of Ireland's energy requirement was met through imports in 2025, substantially higher than the EU average of 57.3%. Almost 93% of those imports were fossil fuels, with Ireland importing all its oil and coal requirements as well as 82% of its natural gas.

The European Commission has urged Meta to make changes to the "addictive design" of Facebook and Instagram after finding the company in breach of the Digital Services Act. The Commission said that Meta needs to disable key addictive features such as autoplay and infinite scroll by default and implement effective screen time breaks. Such features have been found to fuel the user's urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain in to 'autopilot mode', contributing to unhealthy habits and compulsive use.

SE Systems has announced plans to create 150 new jobs over the next two years after opening its new headquarters in Cork The new roles will be in areas such as engineering, project management, energy services, software and digital technologies, operations, technical support and business development The company, which specialises in retrofitting homes and businesses, has opened its new 15,000 sq ft HQ in Dublin Hill, Cork.

EasyJet has agreed in principle to a £5.7bn (€6.7bn) takeover offer from US private equity group Apollo Global Management. The budget airline previously accepted a bid from investment firm Castlelake worth around £5.5bn, which the EasyJet board has now said it is no longer minded to accept. Apollo's offer for the company is worth £7.15 per share compared to £6.90 per share from Castlelake.

Irish IT managed services and digital transformation company HCS has announced the launch of its governance, risk and compliance practice. The new business division is intended to protect businesses in Ireland against growing threats such as ransomware, supply chain disruption and service outages. It will also support compliance with new and changing industry regulations including NIS2 and DORA.

Some 40,000 new homes are expected to be completed this year, according to new estimates from EY Ireland for Euroconstruct. That would represent an annual increase of nearly 4,000 from 2025 when there were 36,284 new dwelling completions but still short of the government's 50,000 target. EY has further projected that housing construction output will increase to 43,000 in 2027 and 47,000 in 2027, ahead of recent ESRI forecasts but again behind government targets.