Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The National Competitiveness Council published the Costs of Doing Business in Ireland 2014report on 1 April 2014. The report compares Ireland’s cost competitiveness to a number of other regions across a range of key business inputs. It also contains some key messages on Ireland’s cost competitiveness.

The report finds that Ireland’s costs base has improved across a range of metrics over the last number of years, making Irish firms more competitive internationally and making Ireland a more attractive location for firms to base their operations. However, the report also indicates that despite these improvements, Ireland is still a high cost location for a number of key business inputs. The council points to upward pressures emerging in a number of areas, including labour costs, industrial electricity prices, transport costs and a range of business services.

The NCC emphasises the importance of Ireland’s international cost competitiveness remaining a key priority for the Government and cautions that further structural change is required to ensure that costs do not escalate and erode the competitiveness gains which we have made in the last few years. The report also emphasises the importance of improving productivity performance.

The Action Plan for Jobs in 2014 introduced a new arrangement under which the Cabinet committee on economic recovery and jobs will review the competitiveness agenda on a quarterly basis and identify follow up actions to be taken in respect of both the ease of doing business and the wider competitiveness challenges. In this context, the Costs of Doing Business report was submitted to the Cabinet committee on economic recovery and jobs for its March meeting. A number of specific opportunities for improvement have been targeted for attention.

See this speech in context