Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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294. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she will report on the research to benchmark Ireland's competitiveness against the UK in the post-Brexit environment, as mentioned in the Taoiseach's speech to the IIEA in February 2017. [10423/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) reports to the Taoiseach and the Government, through me on key competitiveness issues facing the Irish economy and offers recommendations on policy actions required to enhance Ireland’s competitive position.

The Council is undertaking a benchmarking research exercise comparing Ireland and the UK across a number of dimensions based on key indicators relating to competitiveness. This will provide a comprehensive statistical assessment of Ireland’s competitiveness performance. Its objective is to fully understand Ireland’s strengths and weaknesses, both current and future, in the wake of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. It will highlight areas where policy attention should be focused to enhance Ireland’s offering.

The work is ongoing at present and will be completed by the end of Quarter 1 2017.

Benchmarking Competitiveness: Ireland and the UK

The Report will include a baseline of indicators, which will be broken down into all relevant aspects of competitiveness, from the essential conditions underpinning performance, to the policy inputs, outputs and competitiveness outcomes. These include the following:

1. Macroeconomic Performance

2. Competitiveness and Exchange Rate Performance

3. Trade

4. Enterprise and Entrepreneurship

5. Inward Investment

6. Labour Market

7. Prices and Business Costs

8. Productivity

9. Taxation

10. Access to Finance

11. Talent

12. Infrastructure

13. Innovation

14. Energy