Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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61. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which this jurisdiction remains competitive and attractive for jobs in both the manufacturing and services sectors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49790/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Improving Ireland’s international competitiveness is a key economic priority for Government. Since 2012, the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs has set out a comprehensive set of measures to improve our competitiveness performance. Ireland’s improving competitiveness performance over the period 2011-2016 has been central to the recovery in employment and economic growth. Ireland’s relative international competitiveness as measured by a range of international indices has improved. Ireland moved from 16th to 6th in 2017 in the IMD’s World Competitiveness Yearbook. In addition, the World Bank’s most recent “Doing Business 2018” report shows Ireland is now ranked 17th out of 190 countries, an improvement of 1 place on last year.

Our improved performance is reflected in strong employment growth across sectors and regions. The most recent Quarterly National Household Survey data from the CSO shows there was an annual increase in employment of 2.4% or 48,100 in the year to the second quarter of 2017, bringing total employment to 2,063,000. Employment increased in eleven of the fourteen economic sectors over the year. CSO data shows that since 2012, the numbers employed in Industry have increased by 12% to 260,100 with the numbers employed in the Services sector increasing by 8.6% to 1,539,000 persons employed. This increase in employment growth is testament to the competitiveness of Irish enterprise.

However, there is no room for complacency. We need to continue to improve the environment for doing business in Ireland and remain vigilant to the very significant challenges in the external environment, particularly, Brexit. The challenges posed by Brexit provide urgent impetus to pursue policies that enhance competitiveness. I agree with the assessment of the National Competitiveness Council that we need to improve structural factors such as innovation capacity, the quality of infrastructure, costs of doing business and productivity across all economic sectors. The Government is working to reduce the administrative burden that regulations create can improve the business environment by reducing costs, minimising the time businesses spend fulfilling regulatory requirements and increasing productivity. Ensuring that the State does not place undue administrative burdens and costs on entrepreneurs and business owners is critical to competitiveness, productivity and job creation.

The immediate challenge for Ireland is to ensure growth is sustainable, enterprises are resilient and as a small open economy Ireland is best positioned to withstand shifts in economic fortunes. My objective is to ensure the economy is resilient at sectoral and firm level to deal with imminent competitiveness challenges and to build further on the progress we have made. As set out in Budget 2018 my Department is intensifying its focus on the economic implications of Brexit, including on domestic policy measures to reinforce the competitiveness of the Irish economy, to protect it from potential negative impacts of Brexit, and to pursue all possible opportunities that might arise. 

I will shortly bring the Competitiveness Council's annual Competitiveness Challenge report to Government and we will ensure the required actions to address emerging issues are addressed as part of the Action Plan for Jobs process.