Sandra O'Connell, Irish Times Journalist Profile

Articles

Ireland risks up to €26 billion in penalties by missing EU climate targets - what’s at stake?

20 hours ago | irishtimes.com | Sandra O'Connell

The recent joint report from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and the Climate Change Advisory Council made for sobering reading. Published in March, A Colossal Missed Opportunity – Ireland’s Climate Action and the Potential Costs of Missing Targets, looked at the possible costs Ireland faces if it fails to meet its agreed EU climate commitments. These require domestic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, an increasing share of renewable energy, and improved energy efficiency.
Employers focusing on green skills to drive energy transition

20 hours ago | irishtimes.com | Sandra O'Connell

Supporting the energy transition requires a broad set of interdisciplinary skills. Eirgrid, the operator and developer of Ireland’s electricity grid, is responsible for a safe, secure and reliable supply of electricity, playing a key role in helping Ireland to meet its climate commitments and to successfully navigate the energy transition.
Navigating the future: Ireland’s economic reinvention in a changing world

2 days ago | irishtimes.com | Sandra O'Connell

Rita McGrath knows how important “seeing around corners” is for business leaders. She wrote the book. Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen was published in 2019, one of five best-sellers penned by the Columbia Business School professor and founder of corporate consultancy Valize. McGrath is back in Ireland this month as part of a stellar line-up of business leaders speaking at the Reinvention Summit.
Ignite is just what the doctor ordered to get start-ups firing

5 days ago | thetimes.com | Sandra O'Connell
Dubai chocolate craze brings sweet success to Sugar Plum Sweetery

5 days ago | thetimes.com | Sandra O'Connell
How legacy companies can thrive in a rapidly changing world

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Sandra O'Connell

Among the most anticipated speakers at Dublin’s Reinvention Summit is Ismail Amla, senior vice-president of Kyndryl Consult. Kyndryl is the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, serving thousands of enterprise customers – spanning banks, governments and airlines – in more than 60 countries. Its customers include seven out of the 10 largest institutions in the world. It was spun out of tech giant IBM in 2021.
Dyed-in-wool thinking gives way to diversification down on farm

2 weeks ago | thetimes.com | Sandra O'Connell
Out to lunch: Michelin-star treatment and world-beating burgers

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Sandra O'Connell

As if you ever needed an excuse to visit beautiful Ballyfin Demesne in Co Laois, this year you have an extra helping, thanks to the awarding of its tasty new Michelin Star, its first. The hotel joins a growing list of stellar eateries on the island including, in the capital, long-standing one-star awardees such as Bastible, and two-star holders Patrick Guilbaud, Chapter One, and Liath in Blackrock. Spoiled for choice, and well expensed meals.
What’s all the fuss about DeepSeek?

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Sandra O'Connell

The launch of the DeepSeek R1 reasoning model in January, on the day of Donald Trump’s second inauguration as US president, rattled the tech industry and its investors, wiping billions off stocks. High performing but cheaper to develop than blockbuster rivals such as OpenAI’s, DeepSeek’s development was a case study in the law of unintended consequences. After all, it was US moves to limit China’s access to high performing chips that forced the latter to innovate.
Longer-staying visitors can help lift a tail-off in tourism

3 weeks ago | thetimes.com | Sandra O'Connell