Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister mentioned in her initial reply the recent recommendations of the National Competitiveness Council in its report. To rebut some of what the Minister said, in the World Bank rankings for ease of doing business across 189 economies, we dropped four places to 17th in 2016. At our highest point we were ranked 10th out of 189 and we are now behind Estonia and Macedonia in world rankings. The World Bank report states: "Ireland made paying taxes more costly and complicated for companies by increasing landfill levies and by requiring additional financial statements to be submitted with the income tax return." It went on to outline the complexities of red tape and cost of compliance, which ultimately impacts on our competitiveness. We have dropped to 17th in the rankings and we have also slipped six places in a ranking on how easy it is to start a business. What is the Minister, her colleagues beside her and the Department doing to improve Irish competitiveness, which will help our entrepreneurs and job creators and society as a whole to progress and compete better on the international stage?

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