Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I do not need to remind the House that Ireland is in the depths of a recession which will probably be deeper and longer than many of us anticipated. One cannot tax, borrow or cut one's way out of a recession. We will have to trade our way out of this recession and that will require restoring competitiveness. As the Minister of State indicated, Ireland has been stuck in 22nd place in global competitiveness rankings for some time. During the Celtic tiger period, we were ranked 30th.

When Deputy Richard Bruton and Deputy Mary Harney held this Ministry we were in fourth place in the world. We need to get back to that type of position to restore growth levels. The Minister of State gave examples of some other measures in terms of ease of doing business, which is different to competitive measures. Does he accept the findings of the report which particularly identify what I term the "three I's", inflation, infrastructure — where we fell from 55th place to 64th, just behind Barbados — and inefficient Government bureaucracy, to the effect that these are the now the major drags on competitiveness?

More importantly, since it is his Department's responsibility to drive competitiveness and push associated policy, is he satisfied with the progress made by the former Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, in recent years and the Government with regard to the fact that there has been no improvement in three years?

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