Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 126: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the factors that are most obviously undermining the competitiveness of the economy; the action proposed to address the issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8672/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The National Competitiveness Council's Annual Competitiveness Report 2007 has identified three areas essential to improving our competitiveness position: costs, productivity growth and promoting an innovation intensive economy.

I agree with the NCC that, as part of our economic policy, seeking to maintain low inflation, promoting competition, the pursuit of sensible incomes policy, and keeping public spending growth at sustainable levels in the medium term are important. Doing this will allow us to keep the burden of taxation low, thus helping to maintain competitiveness and to maximise our economic potential. These are all part of our strategy to improve the cost environment and to enhance competitiveness. The Anti-Inflation Group which was reconstituted under Towards 2016 has actively engaged with the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Competition Authority, the National Consumer Agency and the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) with a view to co-ordinating and driving the fight against inflation on an informed basis.

There are several ways in which my Department is actively trying to improve productivity growth. I announced the establishment of the Management Development Council in May 2007. The Council brings together the key providers and users of SME management development training in Ireland. The Council has been charged with examining existing management development provision, while profiling gaps and proposing solutions to address them.

The enterprise Agencies are actively promoting more effective use of ICT among their client companies, also in an effort to improve productivity. Productivity improvements at firm level are vital to export competitiveness but the onus is on firms to work with our agencies to access the expertise available to improve their export capabilities. Enterprise Ireland's Productivity Improvement Fund provides support for capital equipment and automation as well as technology acquisition and the essential training and skills to optimise the use of new technology.

The Government has set a goal to become a leader in Research & Development and Innovation and has committed a budget of €8.2 billion under the National Development Plan 2007-2013 and the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (SSTI) 2006-2013 towards achieving this goal. The objective of the Strategy is to build stronger relationships between the science and enterprise systems, particularly in application and commercialisation of R&D. It also aims to ensure the sustained development of human resources in science and technology. Our goal is to translate the NDP commitment in this area into a tangible return in terms of quality jobs, knowledge output and Irish competitiveness.