Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 331: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the efforts he has made to identify the cause of rising costs to industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4359/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 332: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his attention has been drawn to the fact that industry is concerned at the increasing escalation of costs to both manufacturing and service industries; if he intends to take steps to address the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4360/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 333: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the action he proposes to take to address the issue of competitiveness in the economy here; if he expects the benefit of such action to accrue to the manufacturing or services sector in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4361/06]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to answer Questions Nos. 331 to 333, inclusive together.

Ireland's economy continued to perform exceptionally well in 2005. GNP grew by approximately 5%, compared with an OECD average of 2.7% for last year. The recently published NCB purchasing managers' index showed that the Irish manufacturing sector maintained solid growth in output and new business in January. Last year, according to the CSO's latest quarterly national household survey, employment reached 1.99 million in the third quarter of 2005. What is particularly reassuring is that the employment growth was recorded across all sectors of the economy, including the manufacturing sector.

The Government has a strong record of taking decisive actions to ensure that our enterprise environment remains attractive. The introduction of a third consecutive non-inflationary budget in 2006, the abolition of the groceries order, the successful reform of the insurance sector and the increased resources of the Competition Authority are all testament to the Government's determination to safeguard our competitiveness.

However, despite our continued economic success, we cannot afford to become complacent. Maintaining Ireland's competitiveness has been and will continue to be a key pillar of the Government's economic policy. The Government gives careful consideration to the advice of the National Competitiveness Council, which is charged with monitoring Ireland's competitiveness and suggesting recommendations to enhance it. The enterprise advisory group, which I established last year to oversee the implementation of the enterprise strategy group's recommendations continues to make good progress and is expected to submit its first periodic report to the Government later this year.

Our future prosperity depends on our ability to attract and retain the higher value-added operations that are an essential component in any knowledge-based economy. I am reassured by recent data that last year there was a strong upward trend in Irish research and development performance. We also need to improve our productivity performance to ensure our continued competitiveness. To achieve that, Enterprise Ireland has a €20 million productivity improvement fund, which aims to assist Irish enterprises in their drive for higher efficiency and international competitiveness.

Finally, I have no doubt that the competitiveness imperative will be a critical overarching issue that will need to be taken into account by the various stakeholders in the up-coming social partnership discussions.