Long-standing competitive weaknesses in economy needs to be tackled, report finds
Long-standing competitive weaknesses in the Irish economy needs to be tackled to help the country's Covid-19 recovery.
That is one of the key findings of a new report from the National Competitiveness Council.
Ireland's Competitiveness Scorecard for 2020 was completed in March and shows the strengths and weaknesses of the economy just as the pandemic took hold.
At that stage Ireland was faring well in international competitive rankings
Green energy remains a problem area for the economy with Ireland still the highest per capita producer of greenhouse gas emissions
As the workforce shifts to remote working, Ireland's high-speed Internet speeds are still well below the top performers in the EU
The country is also very exposed to global economic problems with our trade to GDP ratio is 230% compared to 82% in the EU, showing how Ireland could be more severely affected by Covid-19 disruption around the world
Ireland also remains a high-cost economy. Irish prices are 14% higher than the EU average.
