Update: Cost Base in Irish Industry 15th July 2014

However, the report also indicates that, despite these improvements, Ireland is still a high cost location for a number of key business inputs. The NCC points to upward pressures emerging in a number of areas, including labour costs, industrial electricity prices, transport costs and a range of business services.

The NCC emphasises the importance of Ireland’s international cost competitiveness remaining a key priority for Government and cautions that further structural change is required to ensure that costs do not escalate and erode the competitiveness gains which we have made in the last few years. The report also emphasises the importance of improving productivity performance.

The Action Plan for Jobs 2014 places a renewed emphasis on improving competitiveness across the whole of Government and has introduced a new arrangement under which the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Jobs reviews the competitiveness agenda on a quarterly basis to identify further actions that can be taken to improve Ireland’s competiveness performance.