Christmas can be make or break for small businesses in Ireland.

The European Investment Fund and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) have tripled their finance for Irish SMEs under the COSME programme in Ireland with a new increase to EUR 330 million.

Rising confidence levels seen earlier in the year among small and medium-sized businesses all but eroded during the second quarter of the year, a new survey shows.

Trading between Midleton and Middlesex is as easy as trading between Cork and Cobh. The only barrier is physical geography. We can no longer take this for granted.

Kehlan Kirwan talks with Dylan Regan, creator of the VirtueBrush, a toothbrush made from bamboo and charcoal nylon, created to answer the environmental question of plastic toothbrushes and their impact on our land and seas.

In the PaperTalk Football Show, Larry Ryan talks to Limerick's most celebrated Leeds United fan Niall Quinn. 

Kehlan Kirwan talks with Nick Halla, chief strategy officer of Impossible Foods. With backers including Bill Gates, the food start-up aims to replace meat at your table and use science to create the foods of the future.

Wanting to help his girlfriend led to an invention with global possibilities, Dr Aonghus Shortt tells Trish Dromey.

In this week’s column, Kehlan talks with inventor and CEO Christian Lane. Christian invented the iKettle and his company, Smarter, is now one of the leading Internet of Things (IoT) companies for domestic appliances.

In this week’s article Kehlan Kirwan predicts that sooner or later the bubble will burst in Silicon Valley and explains why he believes the Irish start-up community needs to take notice of what’s going on in California.

Having lit the fire for a taste revolution in Ireland, Cork start-up Rebel Chilli is now exporting fresh hot chilli sauces to both Dubai and the UK.

This week, I’m looking back on some of the best start-ups I’ve had the pleasure of talking with during 2016.

Irish SMEs foresee the UK’s proposed exit from the EU as being significantly more negative to Ireland’s economy than the pending US presidential change.

Social entrepreneurs rarely get the coverage they deserve.

Christmas is traditionally a time of the year for adding spice to enhance food flavours and tickle the festive taste buds of consumers.

As we all know, or at least should realise, foreign direct investment is an incredibly important component of Ireland’s economic model and structure.

In this week’s column Kehlan looks at the growing influence of artificial intelligence and robotics in the workplace and how nearly half of all human jobs could be obsolete within the next few decades.

Trish Dromey hears how West Cork company DC Fish has diversified and invested in new technology to thrive.

Incubated at Carlow IT, MicroGen is selling into China technology that treats contaminated soils, writes Trish Dromey.

An expert in a research paper commissioned by the IMF has warned about the “vulnerabilities” still facing debt-laden Irish firms eight years after the onset of the financial crash.

In this week’s column Kehlan Kirwan looks at creating and maintaining a business and why it’s tantamount to an addiction.

The three-year-old software startup aims to sign up 20 fund managers by the end of 2017, writes Trish Dromey.

Kehlan Kirwan finds little in the Budget that will inspire entrepreneurs and start-ups. The Government’s priorities appear to be fixed on multinationals and not domestic small businesses.

In this week’s column, Kehlan Kirwan sits down with Paddy Finn of the Limerick-based Electricity Exchange. Mr Finn recently sold half the company to Bord na Móna and discusses his plans for the future.

In this week’s article Kehlan looks at the issue of women in business and why it should concern men too.

Where you set up your business can have a major impact on its success. Equally, where you move when you expand is just as important.