Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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16. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the actions the Government is taking to increase competitiveness in view of the increased competition from the UK as a location to establish a business compared to Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33007/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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As Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, my focus is on improving Ireland’s competitiveness performance. Ensuring Ireland is a competitive location to establish and run a business is essential for job creation. Brexit means we must do more across a wide range of policy areas to enhance our attractiveness as a location to start and locate a business relative to the UK. The most recent data from the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business shows that Ireland is ahead of the UK in terms of ease of starting a business and paying tax but is behind the UK in the overall rankings.

To improve business competitiveness we must consolidate Ireland’s traditional strengths and address those areas where we lag behind the UK.

We are stepping up investment in infrastructure and SMEs access to finance is improving. We are reforming our tax system to encourage enterprise growth. We are driving the implementation of our research strategy Innovation 2020. As part of the Budget my Department secured additional resources for our enterprise agencies to put more people on the ground in foreign markets to attract investment and to help Irish business who export to the UK and helping others diversify into new markets. I have asked that Enterprise Ireland intensify its work with clients exporting to the UK by providing support to improve their competitiveness in the market through its management capability and development programmes such as LEAN. I will ensure that the 2017 Action Plan for Jobs provides a sharp focus on specific aspects of the competitiveness agenda, particularly in the area of costs and ease of doing business.