Government Wants Ireland To Be Among The Most Competitive Countries In The World

The Irish Government is to analyse the impact of all official Government decisions on competitiveness, as part of a drive to make Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD announced today.

The Minister's comments came as he, along with Forfás Chief Executive Martin D. Shanahan, launched a Forfás report, Ireland's Competitiveness Performance, benchmarking Ireland's competitiveness performance against our international competitors on a range of indicators.

Launching the report, Minister Bruton said: "This Government is committed to improving Ireland's competitiveness, making it easier to start and grow a business, and ultimately easier to create jobs.

"In order to systematically improve our performance, I asked Forfás to benchmark our performance against our competitors on a range of measures.

"[This] report, the result of that process, is a striking reminder that while we have made significant improvements in competitiveness in recent years, we risk losing the gains we have made without determined action across the economy.

"What this report also makes clear, however, is that there remain weaknesses in our competitiveness."

"As a first step, the Government has put in place a formal structure to ensure that all official Government decisions are analysed for any potential impacts on competitiveness before they are made.

"Led by the Taoiseach, in cooperation with Cabinet colleagues, Government will be developing actions targeted specifically at improving our competitiveness rankings.

"This is aimed at achieving a top-five international competitiveness ranking, make Ireland the best small country in which to do business and create the jobs we need".

The report highlights that improving national competitiveness requires a reduction of costs and an increase in productivity. Martin D. Shanahan, Chief Executive, Forfás commented, "In recent years, we have seen a reduction in a range of key costs including property, business services and unit labour costs and at the same time productivity has increased, public finances are being restructured and employment levels have stabilised despite adverse economic conditions."

He cautioned however that, "It is still unclear to what extent these gains are simply a cyclical response to the recession and are likely to be eroded as economic growth improves, or if they are more permanent structural changes as a result of recent reforms."

He urged that, "Recent competitiveness gains should be guarded with vigilance and the focused efforts to improve Ireland's performance must be sustained in order to deliver on the Government's jobs target.

"With weak external demand forecast for the medium term, Ireland must continue to bolster its export growth by focusing on national competitiveness.

"We must pursue high growth markets, increase our market share with our existing trading partners and ensure that we are well placed to take advantage of the upswing in demand when it occurs.

"To do this we must continue to take steps to ensure Ireland is an open, cost effective, productive economy," he concluded.