Businesses need access to water and electricity first, never mind broadband
The almost 100-page review by the
National Competitiveness and Productivity Council
on Irish competitiveness painted a picture of continuing decline, even though we still place relatively highly in international rankings for now.
The council has big
concerns
that Ireland's competitiveness is being eroded – and eroded quickly. That poses problems, because if we are less competitive then we are less attractive for companies to make or retain investments in.
Further to this, while many of Ireland's headline economic indicators paint a very rosy picture, the council believes that underneath the bonnet is an economy under a lot more pressure than appears at first glance.
READ MORE
The key issue is
infrastructure
– and we're not talking about high-speed broadband here. Cantillon has heard of a number of business investments having to be shelved due to issues with access to basic stuff like water and electricity.
[
Irish demand for infrastructure, services and employees 'never been higher', says KPMG
Opens in new window
]
What sort of message does that send back to corporate headquarters across the Atlantic? Certainly, it is not the type of thing you think about when an advanced western European economy comes to mind.
Another concern in council circles is the sense that regulators operate in splendid isolation whereby different arms of the State are in effect working against each other.
Some situations have emerged whereby foreign workers – often in construction – have arrived on Irish shores and been provided with work permits by one arm of the State but have not had their visas processed in time by another, and the permits have been withdrawn. Make it make sense.
[
Ireland's infrastructure is 32% behind international peers, IMF finds
Opens in new window
]
On the planning side, while the number of planners at
An Coimisiún Pleanála
has grown, a lot of these were drafted in from the local government system, so it was more a rearranging of the deck chairs rather than any real increase in overall capacity.
There is a sense in the council that all this is creating reputational damage for Ireland abroad at an already challenging time. If you make yourself less competitive, someone else will come along and eat your lunch.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
11 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Man faces possible sale of €1.2m property if €350,000 debt to brothers not paid in six months
A man is facing the possible sale of his €1.2 million family property in Co Meath if he and his wife do not repay a €350,000 debt to his two brothers. The Court of Appeal had in 2023 found Alan and Derek Gaffney were entitled to judgment for US$372,043 (€350,000) against their brother Philip Gaffney, an Irish souvenir manufacturer, and his wife Teresa, of The Naul, Co Meath. The judgment sum arose from payments advanced by the plaintiff brothers so Philip Gaffney could fulfil a lucrative US €1.3 million 2015 order for Irish souvenirs with US-based Quality Value Choice Corporation (QVC), which runs a TV shopping channel and also has an online presence. Mr Gaffney's ceramic Irish products, such as leprechauns, cottages, fairy doors and mushrooms, were to feature as the firm's 'Today's Special Value' item on a date around St Patrick's Day in 2016, but the contract was pulled in February 2016. READ MORE The High Court previously held, on the balance of probabilities, that Philip Gaffney had lost the order or had to relinquish it due to not passing all the required tests and/or not being able to fulfil the order for 67,000 items by mid-March 2016. His brothers claimed they made various payments to Philip Gaffney and his wife between October 2015 and February 2016, as a loan to expand their workshop and obtain raw materials to be able to meet the QVC order. Alan Gaffney said the $372,043 comprised $272,043 from him and $100,000 from Derek Gaffey. In 2022, the High Court determined that $372.043 was owed by Philip Gaffney to his brothers but rejected their claim against Teresa Gaffney. It dismissed Philip Gaffney's proceedings against Alan Gaffney and his wife, alleging they had breached an agreement to invest €400,000 in his business. In May 2023, the Court of Appeal allowed an appeal by Alan and Derek Gaffney against the finding that Teresa Gaffney was not a party to the 2015 contract. It held that she had been an active participant in the business and entered total judgments for $372,043 against both. The judgments of the High Court and Court of Appeal were later registered as a judgment mortgage against the defendants' interests in their 0.75 hectares (1.4 acre) property in Naul, including a substantial family home and a 557sq m workshop. When no monies were paid towards the judgment debt, Alan and Derek Gaffney obtained an order from the Circuit Court in July 2024 declaring the judgment was registered as a burden on the Co Meath property. The Circuit Court orders were stayed pending appeal to the High Court. In opposing the appeal by Philip and Teresa Gaffney, Derek Gaffney said the defendants' products had featured on the Late Late Toy Show in late 2023 and this 'high profile TV placement' was 'galling' as the defendants were clearly still in business and selling their products. Mr Gaffney said, while refusing to pay them anything, the defendants were continuing to trade in the last eight years since they took the loan monies and continued to ignore the 'legal and moral obligation' to repay. Both plaintiffs said the failure to repay had cost them and their families considerable stress and difficulties. In his judgment published this week, Mr Justice Bradly said he proposed to make orders that the judgments totalling $372,043 were well charged against the defendants' interest in their Co Meath property. There has been 'a continuous refusal' by the defendants to repay the debt, he said. He also proposed to order the plaintiffs were entitled to details of any other encumbrances affecting the Co Meath property, and to an order for sale of the property if the judgment sums, plus interest, were not repaid within six months of the date of judgment. Final orders will be made in October when the judge said he will discuss whether there should be any stay on his orders.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Irish agricultural prices soar by almost 19%
Agricultural prices , often seen as a proxy for food prices, jumped by almost 19 per cent in the 12 months to June, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) . However, the figures marked a second modest monthly retreat. The agency's agricultural output price index, which monitors trends in prices paid to farmers for their produce, increased by 18.9 per cent on an annual basis in June. The surge in output prices was driven mainly by a dramatic increase in the price of cattle, which was 43.6 per cent ahead of the same time last year, even though prices dipped almost 2 per cent on May. Other meats saw much more modest increases with poultry prices 2.8 per cent up on June 2024, and the price of sheep and pigs effectively the same as a year ago. READ MORE Notable increases in output prices outside meat included milk – up 11.9 per cent over the past 12 months – and wool, which was almost a third higher. Eggs prices were 4.2 per cent up on June last year. [ Grocery price inflation jumps to almost 5% Opens in new window ] However, arable and crop farmers fared less well. The farm gate price paid for potatoes fell by 15.7 per cent compared to a year ago and there was also a marginal fall in cereal prices. On the input side, the costs of producing agricultural produce have risen by a more modest 0.6 per cent over the past year. Most costs are actually down on the same time in 2024, including energy, feed and seeds. However, there have been some notable increases. The cost of fertilisers was up 10.5 per cent year on year while veterinary expenses were up 4.7 per cent. [ Blame farmers not supermarkets for the rising price of food Opens in new window ] The CSO's figures come in the wake of an acceleration in food price inflation for consumers. Grocery price inflation increased to almost 5 per cent in July, nearly three times the rate of overall inflation, according to the CSO's latest consumer price index (CPI). The CPI showed headline inflation in the Irish economy dropped to 1.7 per cent in July, edging down from 1.8 per cent the previous month, as consumers benefited from cheaper clothes, air fares and transport fuels. However, the figures show that food prices rose at a significantly faster pace, up 4.7 per cent year-on-year, as consumers paid more for a range of basic food items.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Pope Leo targeted Maga money in early days as pontiff, says Mary McAleese
Pope Leo XIV has attempted to court Maga money from the US back into the Catholic Church while simultaneously contesting aspects of the political movement's thinking and actions, former president Mary McAleese has said. In a critical article reflecting on the new pontiff, Ms McAleese took issue with various aspects of his brief period in office , seizing on same-sex marriage and his attitude toward women in particular. Her views are set out in an article for the current UK Catholic Tablet magazine to mark the pope's first 100 days on Friday. Leo, she wrote, had followed the agenda of his predecessor Francis in support of migrants and the poor, although with reduced volume, 'as he tries to court Maga (Make United States Great Again) money back into the Church while simultaneously contesting aspects of Maga governmental thinking and acting'. READ MORE One of the main subjects considered by the cardinals before Leo's election was the parlous state of Vatican finances where, according to accounts for 2024, there was an €83 million shortfall, while its pension fund shortfall was estimated at €631 million. On May 16th last, in one of his first statements as pope, Leo affirmed Catholic teaching on marriage as founded on the 'stable union between a man and a woman,' and church teaching banning abortion. Ms McAleese said such 'uncompromising comments' could have been made by previous conservative popes Benedict, John Paul II, Paul VI or Pius XI. 'That they also appeal to the constituency of US Catholic voters who distrusted Francis and whose financial support Leo is trying to restore, is noteworthy,' she wrote. [ How a quiet American became pope Opens in new window ] She was also less than enthusiastic about the new pope's stance on women in the church, describing him as 'as bog-standard patriarchal, patronising and prone to tokenism'. Meanwhile, his views on Church teaching where LGBTIQ+ issues are concerned were anything but 'forward thinking,' she said. Noting that Leo recently appointed Rev Thomas Hennen as Bishop of Baker, Oregon in the US, she said the new bishop supported Courage International. [ Pope Leo XIV: what does he stand for? Opens in new window ] It 'advocates celibacy and caters for the spiritual needs of LGBTIQ+ Catholics within existing magisterial teaching which regards homosexuality as intrinsically disordered and homosexual acts as evil. This appointment and its accompanying spin is a worrying straw in the wind.' Overall, she felt the last 100 days showed that 'Leo is more Benedict than Francis though in fairness the latter's reputation as a reformer was well over-egged'. 'We appear at least to have pivoted dramatically from a careless pope to a cautious pope, from a sometimes narky showman to a genial shy man, from an impulsive pope to a measured pope, from a Latin American pope to an American pope.' The first American pope, Leo XIV's election on May 8th last took almost everyone by surprise, mainly due to his nationality. It tends to be Catholic Church tradition that conclaves rarely elect a pope from one of the world's major powers. Pope Leo XIV delivers his Angelus blessing from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square on August 10th. Photograph: Elisabetta Trevisan - Vatican Media via by Vatican Pool/ Getty Images As surprising was that he had been a member of the College of Cardinals, which elected him, for less than two years. He was on the Roman Curia, as prefect at the Dicastery for Bishops, for a little more than that, since January 2023. Following his election, unlike his predecessor, Pope Leo appeared on the balcony at St Peter's wearing the traditional papal stole and mozzetta. Since when he has decided to reside at the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, unlike Francis, and has already been to the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo twice, a place Francis never visited. Commenting on this, Ms McAleese said 'almost entirely gone from Pope Leo' papacy already are the early self-effacing elements of Francis' papacy which provoked much favourable comment about his perceived modesty'. She asked whether Leo will 'have the courage and faith to be an agent of change or are we already looking at another filibuster pope like Francis, just different in personality not outcome?'
