Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The policy initiatives the Minister has announced to improve competitiveness are too little too late. I do not know if the Minister has had a chance to read the annual reports of the National Competitiveness Council and Forfás. According to that data, Ireland performs poorly across a range of infrastructural areas, including energy, waste and broadband, to mention but three.

How does the Minister explain that the price of electricity was 15% below the European-15 average in 1996, whereas now, after ten years of this Government and on his watch, the price is 13% above the European average? Our share of the world merchandise trade has fallen from its peak in 2002.

Has the Minister had a chance to consider what the annual competitiveness report says about this Government's gross economic mismanagement? During the best years the Minister left the Government with many indicators facing downwards and 35,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost during the last five years. What does the Minister have to say to workers leaving factory jobs, including high-end jobs in companies such as Motorola and what does he say about the competitiveness challenge?

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