Susan Hayes Culleton

So what do we need to look out for next year?

And around halfway through the report, I found this line, Simon.

In 2026, the race to gain or retain access to critical minerals for digital technologies, high capacity batteries and defence system will lead to new productions and trade patterns.

Can you delve into that a little bit more for us, please?

And of course, I should actually tell our listeners what report I'm referring to.

And that is the 2026 Geostrategic Outlook.

And it's available on the EY Ireland website.

It's a really interesting read and a very visual one as well.

You mentioned there about particularly the environmental decisions taken by China.

But if I was to look at the last couple of days, Simon, we saw in the EU in the past while Mertz and Macron having a bit of a standoff there regarding the use of the Russian frozen assets.

The Draghi Report, of course, constantly being referred to in terms of European competitiveness.

Could you take us on a trip around the world in terms of the major regional blocs and talk about the geopolitical volatility that you see coming in the year ahead?

And it took aim at Europe very strongly in that report as well.

It went a bit more under the radar than I expected.

If I could ask you very briefly, often when we talk about globalisation, we talk about supply chains and thus goods.

There's an insinuation of that.

What do services-based businesses particularly need to think about in the year ahead?

And there I'm going to have to leave it.

Thank you very much indeed, Simon McAllister, Co-Head of Geopolitical Strategy at EY Ireland.

First up, we are going to get straight into it and look at some of the stories in the papers this morning with Ross Mould from AJ Bell.