June 2023 Newsletter – School’s out…
It’s easy to tell when the leaving & junior cert is about to start, the good weather arrives. Every year! It’s a curse for those trying to study but very welcome for everyone else! Summer has officially arrived, and June is jam packed with festivals and events to attend.
May flew by and lots happened. Sweden won the Eurovision, Ireland is now neck and neck with them for Eurovision titles, hopefully next year will be Ireland’s time for a win, it’s been a while. Staying on the music front, Beyonce kicked off her world tour, Kurt Cobain’s broken guitar sold for 10 times the guide price (eventually selling for $600,000) and we said goodbye to the powerhouse that was Tina Turner.
‘Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’ to quote Samuel Beckett. Elon Musk seems to be a strong advocate for this with his SpaceX failed launch this month, but he was expecting almost hoping for it to fail, allowing issues to be identified at this early stage rather than later! Ron de Santis also had a big fail, launching his US Presidential campaign on Twitter, all a bit awks to be fair.
Meta faced another media filled week which unfortunately impacted their Irish office. In March only 50 roles were affected, however this time around 490 jobs will go from their Dublin office. On the plus side, the recruitment market is buoyant across the board, so hopefully those affected will find new roles soon. If you have been affected (or know someone) in the finance field, you know who to recommend! They were also recently hit by a record fine of $1.2bn for data transfer breaches. Reactions to the mega-GDPR fine have included the possibility of Meta pulling out of the EU but most commentators agree that it is ‘highly unlikely’ and ‘saber-rattling’.
EY produced an interesting survey this month on consumer trends in an environment of concern over rising costs – with 21,000 consumers surveyed the key findings were ‘repair, not replace’ for goods, a move away from branded to own-brand for foodstuffs, and a prioritising of holidays for discretionary spend.
The Sunday Business post published an article on Ireland’s Top 30 Executives including those running Smurfit Kappa, Dalata, Flutter, Icon, DCC, Ryanair, Glenveagh, Cairn Homes, Glanbia & CRH, many of these are qualified accountants, so now you know the sky is the limit in terms of your potential earnings!
For those of you working with international trade we liked this simple representation of global risk map by Atradius.
Very interesting results from last month's question in the PeopleSource April Newsletter with four in ten workers saying they are facing pressure to spend more time in the office. It looks like this office Vs hybrid debate hasn't found its level just yet. Have you seen the latest CSO results, lots of interesting stats to ponder. Read it here.
So, we can all breathe again, it’s Patrick Kielty who’ll be taking over the Late Late Show following ‘Tubs’ decision to stand down. A good choice indeed and we look forward to seeing what new spin can be put on the longest running LIVE chat show ever! All the best PK (not that he would be reading this!).
Across the water we had the Kings Coronation, what a spectacle, did you watch any of it? The Chelsea Flower show was on also, with a fabulous Irish winner and then the unthinkable happened, the showbiz breakup of Schofield and Willoughby, how will we ever be able to go on?
Did you follow the Cannes Film Festival this year? The Grand Prize winner is a Malaysian film – Tiger Stripes. We watched the trailer, it might be a bit too edgy for us, but can see it here.
Or you could go mainstream and watch one of the many releases in Ireland this month - view the list here.
This month we were struck by an interesting piece on the BBC website regarding 'shoulder surfing' (to watch you enter your pin) and phone theft/hacking. This article includes a story of a guy who had his phone stolen, he thinks no more about it until he sees the next morning that his life savings had been cleaned out of his bank account! The Police advise people to think of their phone as “a bag of cash”. It’s a great example of how technology makes things like banking so simple but also the risks that these advances create. Read it here and never think of your phone in the same way again!
This month’s recommendations for some on-line diversion while you eat your lunch!
Forbidden Fruit - here
Body & Soul - here
Dalkey Book Festival - here
Bloomsday Festival - here
Borris House Festival - here
Blue Flag beaches - here
Bittersweet days for rugby fans as Leinster lose again to La Rochelle, managed of course by Irish Rugby Legend (I think the term applies here) Ronan O’Gara. Leinster going down by the slimmest possible margin having raced into a three-try 17point lead will have been hard to take for die-hard fans, especially in the Aviva! Great win for Munster in Cape Town too, a first trophy for 12 years, hard to believe.
Our big golfing shout-out for May might not be instantly recognisable to many, he didn’t even win anything. But we loved the story of club pro Michael Bloch who makes a living selling lessons for $150. He was the only one of 20 club pros to make the cut. He finished joint 15th, taking home $288,000 which is the equivalent of giving 1,920 lessons. He had a carefree attitude throughout, became the darling of the crowd, got to play with two of his heroes, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy and capped it off with a hole in one on the last day! He has the words “why not?” embroidered on his bag and afterwards said he couldn’t wait to get home to his family and his little black Labrador – we loved it! Check out his hole-in-one.
So, did Man City win the Premiership or did Arsenal throw it away, that debate will rage for years. Either way it was a shame to see the title won with not a ball kicked. Luckily there was drama at the other end of the table with Everton once again surviving another year in the Premiership, thus retaining their enviable record of being the club with the longest tenure in the top flight of English football with next year being their 70th season. All credit to Man City though and with the all-Manchester FA Cup Final on the 3rd June they have just a seven day turnaround before facing Inter Milan in the Champion’s League final. A big couple of weeks for the blue half of Manchester, and how the red half would love to stick the boot in to begin with!
Despite being the most glamorous fixture of the F1 season, Monaco is rarely a great race in terms of action but this year some rain added a bit of colour and spectacle and although Verstappen once again crossed the line first, he was at least pushed all the way by some enterprising driving from Alonso. Have you been to Monaco? Overrated?
As for the Munster Hurling Championship, it really has caught fire this year. Cork were edged out by the slimmest possible margin by a Limerick side who just keeps finding that tiny bit extra this year and will face Clare on the 11st June in a mouth-watering Munster final.
Changing career is a far more common occurrence now than in the past when longevity, loyalty and pensions were key considerations. Today however, balance, flexibility and challenges are the top priorities. If you are one of those people considering their options right now, be sure to check out our website where we have a host of exciting roles for all levels. Contact Rachel on
Each month we ask our readers to answer a question for a chance to win €100 One4all voucher.
Our question for the April newsletter was:
Is your employer trying to encourage (or mandate) staff to spend more time in the office?
And the results were:
Yes – 39%
No - 61%
And the winner of our voucher is – Shauna Kennedy – we’ll be in touch!
Our question for the May newsletter is:
Due to rising costs, will you spend less on your holidays this year than in 2022?
Yes/No
The winner will be chosen at random and will receive €100 One4All voucher. Enter here to be in with a chance to win.
If you would like regular updates follow our LinkedIn company page.
PeopleSource is a specialist finance & accounting recruitment firm.
