Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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144. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views on the National Competitiveness Council’s latest report Ireland’s Competitiveness Challenge 2017; and the timeframe for implementation of the recommendations in this publication. [2713/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Ireland’s improving competitiveness performance over the period 2011-2016 has been central to the recovery in employment and economic growth. Nevertheless, as set out in the 2017 Competitiveness Challenge a range of threats have emerged, not least of which is the impact of Brexit. I share the Council’s view that Ireland must rigorously pursue cost competitiveness, address barriers to investment and growth, drive productivity performance and be responsive to competitiveness challenges and opportunities that are emerging. As Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, 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 in making it easier to start and run a business in Ireland.

A range of policy challenges and recommendations for consideration by Government are identified by the Council in the Competitiveness Challenge report. The report has been considered by Government and at Cabinet Committee. The specifics of the challenges and recommendations range from short to long term actions. In some cases, the Council’s proposals address the need to complete or expedite ongoing work or to implement existing strategies.

I will continue to engage with relevant Ministers through the Cabinet Committee structure to develop meaningful actions to enhance national competitiveness. In addition, actions to address competitiveness will be addressed as part of the 2018 Action Plan for Jobs.