Martin Murray, CEO, Interactive Return: "I think the last year has seen a major shift towards online retailing in Ireland. It's something that has taken a longer time to happen than we thought, but particularly towards the end of the year there has been strong sales in consumer goods, financial services and gift giving.
"A lot of it has to with our lifestyle, I feel. We have more buying power as consumers and less time in which to do it in. Travel has always been strong but now people are buying their groceries online - electronic goods, stuff they mightn't be able to get because they're working longer hours and have less time at home.
"I don't think we'll see another dotcom boom like happened in the mid-1990s. There has been a lot of maturing in the market, companies have learned how to do it right, and those that haven't have gone out of business.
"A lot of retailers who have bricks and mortar outlets, a strong offline business, these are the guys who are doing well and making a profit. There is more confidence amongst consumers as regards things like security and delivery, and retailers have the know-how. They're offering a better business.
"As well as established Irish offline companies, we've seen a lot of major international websites open an Irish portal, such as lastminute.com, the original dotcom success in Britain.
"This route was paved by Google and Yahoo, and we see other companies like Dell and eBookers, the travel agency, following suit. Ireland is seen as a sufficient global player by these companies."
Andrew Hetherington, CEO, Repak
"The last year has been very important for Repak because 2005 is one of the landmark years that was set out in the National Compliance Scheme in 1996. 2001 was the last one and 2011 the next.
"The main target of this landmark year is to recycle 50 per cent of the packaging placed on the market in Ireland. In 2004, we raised our current level to 45 per cent, which is fantastic as it means we will certainly reach the 50 per cent level next year. We're ahead of schedule.
"Reaching that level will represent significant progress as a country and means Ireland is an exemplar nation in terms of recycling. We have come from a position where we were seen as a nation that was doing little or nothing to one that can hold its head high. For example, we have reached a global benchmark this year by offering 50 per cent of households kerbside collections, and we have quadrupled the number of bring centres nationwide.
"The response from consumers has been brilliant, using the facilities, segregating and cleaning.
"Our other aim for next year is to get the freeloaders on board; those 25 per cent of companies who are evading the law and not contributing. This evasion keeps our costs up and costs are going to be a major issue for industry this year.
"It has been very gratifying to see the Irish economy turn around in such a short space of time after a couple of hard years, but while companies are trying to keep their costs down, we have had to increase our fees. That is down to the 25 per cent who aren't getting involved."
Turlough O'Sullivan, Director general, IBEC
"One of the highlights of 2004 was Ireland's EU presidency. Most importantly, the Government worked harder to implement the Lisbon accord than any of the other members. They succeeded by taking out the key elements and working on those, rather than trying to get a comprehensive overview.
"We also made great progress on the EU constitution. The next step will be to prepare for a referendum and get the right result. Ireland is a very small market, so any enlargement of the single market is a positive move.
"Obviously there are threats as well as benefits, such as cheap labour in eastern Europe, but we have to be big enough to be able to face those threats.
"I felt that Budget 2005 was a pro-enterprise budget. Public spending, while still at a high level, is being kept under control. The Budget answered the needs of business as well as looking after the less well-off in society. In a fair society, a successful business sector is in the interests of everyone.
"We need to keep the issue of competitiveness on the table. We may sound like a broken record on this one, but we can't let up on it. Primarily, that involves building on the success of the Lisbon accord.
"Finally, I believe we should think about getting value from our public services. There are those who would be cynical about the public sector. Employment went up while jobs were being lost elsewhere, and last benchmarking went over and above the national agreement."
John Cummins, Managing director, Independent Pictures/Agtel
"For us at Agtel, 2004 was a momentous year because it was our silver jubilee and we also relaunched ourselves as Independent Pictures.
"For the industry as a whole, 2004, though I'm reluctant to use the phrase, really was a year of two halves.
"We've just published the figures for the audio-visual industry in Ireland in 2003, which was a very buoyant year: TV productions were up, in film we had major productions like King Arthur and Rules of Attraction, and animation had a good year as well.
"But the announcement by Minister McCreevy at the end of 2002 that he would get rid of Section 481, the tax break for films, had big implications for the last 12 months. Despite the success of 2003, there was a lot of uncertainty throughout the year as to whether the tax break would be dropped or not.
"As it turns out, the Minister didn't touch it in the Budget at the end of 2003, but that uncertainty had a knock-on effect. Added to the weak dollar, it meant that we had a very slow first six months as the big Hollywood production companies weren't coming over.
"Television still remained buoyant throughout the year, but film production didn't really kick in until the summer and after that we had a great year. We had two or three major productions, such as Neil Jordan's Breakfast on Pluto.
"That tax break is guaranteed until 2008, but other countries like the UK, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and New Zealand have caught onto the idea and are now offering similar tax breaks."
