Inside Business podcast: Jack O’Connor on Siptu, Labour and ‘fortunate’ Fine Gael

Former Siptu president Jack O’Connor stepped down from the role last December and is preparing to contest the next general election for the Labour party.

On the latest episode of the Inside Business podcast, produced in association with Irish Life, Mr O’Connor explains how he came to the decision to run for the party in the Wicklow, after 38 years as a paid trade union official.

On the current government, he tells Ciarán Hancock that while Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe is "a very competent man", he is more fortunate than competent, because "anyone can look good when the coffers are full".

He also talks about whether the Labour party could go into a coalition government again, the future of work and the economic challenges ahead.

Q&A: What does the proposed plan mean?

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But first, Peter Hamilton has a roundup of the week’s news stories, including falling Facebook shares in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the threat to corporate tax here due to an EU digital tax and the Irish champagne sales losing their fizz.