Vol. 544 No. 1
134 Mr. Kenny asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the position of the economy in the context of European competitiveness; her views on whether Ireland's economic competitiveness has slipped in the recent past; the measures she proposes to take to maintain competitiveness; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28166/01]
The ‘European Competitiveness Report 2001', which has just been prepared by the European Commission, shows Ireland in an extremely favourable light in comparison with other member states of the European Union. Ireland is one of just three states cited as recording high rates of GDP growth, while scoring very high both in terms of employment growth and labour productivity growth. In terms of GDP per capita in EU member states Ireland is ranked second after Luxembourg for 2001 and we are, in fact, in first place as regards growth of real GDP in member states ranked according to performance over the period 1995 to 2001.
We are also in first place as regards both employment growth and labour productivity in member states, as shown by the average annual growth of GDP employed persons in per cent, ranked according to performance over the same period.
In addition to these macro indicators, the report also points out that Ireland – in common with some of the Nordic countries – is approaching US levels of business investment in ICT as a percentage of GDP. I am satisfied that, with a continuation of our successful policies, adjusted to take account of changing economic conditions, we will be in a position to maintain our competitiveness vis-à-vis the other member states of the EU for the foreseeable future.
