Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 151: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on the National Competitiveness Council's report for 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33117/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the National Competitiveness Council's recent Annual Report that benchmarks Ireland against its international peers in the OECD, and the Council's associated publication, Ireland's Competitiveness Challenge.

The new thematic approach presented by the NCC in this year's report is a worthwhile and useful development. By identifying a small number of strategic themes, centring on cost competitiveness, enhancing productivity and building innovative enterprises, the NCC has presented enterprise policy guidance that will help inform the Government's approach to enterprise policy.

It is important to recognise that, as NCC's Chairman puts it in his forward, we are well placed to take on competitive challenges with the resources that are now available to us. This is because of our remarkable achievements over the past 15 years and the careful yet robust enhancement of enterprise policy. These resources will be carefully managed and invested to best effect for the economy. They will be channelled through strategic initiatives such as the National Development Plan, the National Skills Strategy and the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation. These are the policy frameworks in which the strategies will comprehensively address and set the operational agenda to strengthen the productive capacity of the economy and support what firms want to do for themselves.

I also welcome some very important findings concerning the competitiveness and efficiency of our enterprise sector. The NCC mentions that our annual average productivity growth in key sectors such as chemicals/pharmaceutical, financial and telecommunications services is above that of the most developed economies in the EU and that of the United States of America. This very significant outcome relates to sectors that tend to be dominated by foreign investment but it is also mirrored in important indigenous sectors such as food products, agriculture and construction.

The NCC says these two key competitive indicators show a strong or improving performance. This reinforces the many competitive advantages Ireland has and reinforces my belief that Ireland is a very productive and competitive location for business investment.

The NCC reports also show that Ireland is number 1 in the OECD economies in its attractiveness for Greenfield investment projects. This analysis is reinforced by more recent information published in IBM's Global Location Trends annual report for 2006. Ireland holds third position in the top ranking destinations for FDI employment when measured against country size. Ireland is in second position on this measure for ICT employment and investment.

There are undoubtedly challenges to be addressed, not least in terms of our cost base at present, and these are clearly signalled in the report. I am satisfied however that through our prudent management of the economy, through our social partnership structure, and through the provision of competition and other structural reforms in the economy that we will be able to meet those challenges.