Business

Tubridy’s new radio show drives more than 8,000 app downloads

Seen & Heard: Public sector pay talks, row at audio app Noa and crypto-exchange Gemini’s threat to exit Irish market

Ryan Tubridy returns to airwaves for Virgin Media Radio.

Sun Jan 7 2024 - 13:30

More than 8,000 people downloaded Q102 and the Virgin Radio UK apps through Irish app stores last week as Ryan Tubridy began his new mid-morning radio show, reports the Sunday Times.

The newspaper quoted figures from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower indicating that the number of downloads in Ireland of the two apps were triple the total for those apps in the preceding five days. Both apps were also in the five most-downloaded apps in Ireland in the Apple charts last Wednesday.

The Virgin Radio UK comeback show for the former RTÉ presenter is being simulcast on FM in Dublin via Q102, with both stations owned by Sunday Times parent company News UK.

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Public sector ballot

The threat of a “spiral of industrial action” across the public service could see the government “lose control of industrial relations for the first time in 40 years”, according to union sources cited by the Business Post.

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The sources told the newspaper that “the threat to industrial peace is now very real” in the absence of any public sector pay deal which would see a commitment not to strike in return for higher pay.

The last pay deal lapsed on December 31st and unions are now set to ballot members on industrial action on Thursday. Unions are calling for pay rises to match projected inflation and compensate public servants for inflation pressures since 2020.

Noa shareholders

A shareholder row has erupted at Dublin-based voiceover start-up News Over Audio (Noa) after investors called an egm and raised questions about their “ongoing concerns regarding the future of Noa”, reports the Sunday Independent.

Co-founder Shane Ennis stepped down as a director last month and the company has since filed accounts showing retained losses of €1.2 million. Chief executive and founder Gareth Hickey said the disgruntled investors accounted for only a minority of shareholders.

Mr Hickey told the newspaper that the vast majority of shareholders were supportive of the company’s strategy and its management team. The disgruntled group was incorrect to say Noa’s management has no strategy and its board of directors is dysfunctional, he said.

Gemini warning

Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by twin brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, has warned it will move its European business out of Ireland if it is not given extra time to apply for Central Bank authorisation under EU regulations, according to the Business Post.

The company, which announced Dublin as its European base in May 2023, claims new rules being imposed by the Department of Finance will make Ireland a less attractive location for investment than other European countries.

It has said that the government’s transposition of EU crypto laws “will have an effect on Gemini’s business operations in Ireland”, adding that “in the worst-case scenario, other EU member states will become more attractive to do business in due to their drafting and implementation of preferable transposition legislation”. The Winklevoss twins became well known after they were depicted in the film The Social Network about the early days of Facebook.

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