Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if his officials have made any recommendations following the most recent report from the National Competitiveness Council; if there are any outcomes from this in his own Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49723/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The most recent report published by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), in July of this year, was “Ireland's Competitiveness Scorecard”. This report provides a comprehensive benchmark of Ireland’s competitiveness performance compared to many of its trading partners and competitors, using over 125 statistical indicators drawn from a range of national and international data sources.

My officials have analysed the report and I have also brought it to the attention of my colleagues in Government.

The report notes that there is evidence that the economy has stabilised and that the Irish economy has made some gains in international competitiveness in recent years. Many of our traditional strengths have survived the recession intact, including our pro-business enterprise regime, our supportive tax regime and our productive workforce.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) rankings showed Ireland’s position improving 2 places to 27th last September, while the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook released in May showing Ireland’s headline position recovering back into the top 20 (up from 24th) and 8th out of the 24 EU countries featured. Ireland was ranked first by the IMD in a number of areas, including in relation to investment incentives, skilled labour and attitudes towards globalisation while the WEF ranked Ireland first for the business impact of FDI rules, FDI and technology transfer and inflation.

However, the NCC advises that Ireland must continue to focus on implementing a range of structural reforms across all sectors of the economy, including in relation to the labour market, competition policy, taxation, education and skills. The report also highlights the importance of ensuring that our banking system is appropriately structured to provide an adequate supply of credit for enterprise and the need to embed pro-competitiveness reforms in sheltered areas, such as healthcare and legal services.

The 2012 and the coming 2013 Action Plan for Jobs includes an extensive range of measures across Government which will address many of the reforms highlighted by the NCC as necessary to ensure a continued and structural improvement in our competitive position. In relation to my own areas of responsibility, I have taken a number of specific actions which are directly aimed at improving the competitiveness of enterprises. These include:

- reforming the Joint Labour Committee/Registered Employment Agreement system,

- the introduction of a number of initiatives to improve access to finance for business,

- the reduction in business burdens which will yield potential savings of €206 million per annum for business,

- through the National Consumer Agency, encouraging greater transparency in the pricing of professional services to business.

In addition, one of the key actions being undertaken by Forfás this year under the Action Plan for Jobs is to identify a set of competitiveness indicators and actions to improve Ireland’s international competitiveness rating.

Further measures to achieve the structural reforms identified by the NCC to improve our international competitiveness will be contained in the 2013 Action Plan for Jobs which I am currently preparing in consultation with my Government colleagues.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if the economic unit within his Department has considered the recent EU report on competitiveness; the implications of the report for Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48025/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The European Commission’s Competitiveness Report 2012 was published on 19 October last. The report analyses competitiveness across the European Union as a whole and examines the related challenges and opportunities faced by European enterprises.

The focus of the report is on the potential for Europe to benefit from the globalisation of trade. The report concludes that European industry is well positioned to benefit from this globalisation.

In addition to the main report, the Commission has produced country-specific summaries of the competitiveness situation in each Member State.

The summary for Ireland shows that we are better than the EU average in the vast majority of the competitiveness indicators examined, including in relation to labour productivity, our share of high-tech exports, the energy intensity of industry and our overall business environment.

Areas where Ireland is weak compared to the EU average are in relation to access to finance for SMEs, the cost of electricity for medium-sized enterprises and the availability of high speed broadband.

The Commission’s report on Ireland acknowledges the actions that are being taken by the Government under the Action Plan for Jobs to improve the areas of deficit and concludes that the breadth of the Plan and the way implementation has started are promising signs that we are making a determined effort to reduce the differences in the competitiveness of the domestic and multinational sectors.

We will build on this progress in the 2013 Action Plan for Jobs which will set out further measures to improve our competitiveness.