Departmental Policies
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-28
============================================================

Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath

The preparation of the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity, which was published on 10 September 2025, was a commitment under the programme for Government. Its delivery was expedited in response to international economic developments. The overarching objective of the action plan is to maintain and improve Ireland's position as a competitive and productive economy capable of withstanding shocks, building on our strengths and developing our indigenous enterprise base while continuing to attract investment and talent from abroad.
Ireland holds a strong competitive position globally. This is reflected in our current position as the seventh most competitive country worldwide in the latest IMD world competitiveness rankings 2025. Among EU member states, Ireland ranks second. The next update to these rankings is expected to be published in June 2026. I am pleased to report that the implementation of the action plan is well under way. Currently, the vast majority of actions are regarded as in progress. A number of key actions from the action plan have already been delivered or are due for completion in the coming months. The next progress update on the implementation of the action plan will be discussed as part of the Government’s annual competitiveness summit in July 2026, with a first implementation report to be submitted for discussion at the summit.
Monitoring the success of this action plan will operate across two distinct but complementary dimensions. The first focuses on practical delivery, tracking the timely and effective implementation of specific actions and commitments across government. The second assesses strategic impact, evaluating progress toward the broader goals of the plan, namely, sustained improvements in Ireland’s competitiveness and productivity. It should be noted that changes in productivity and competitiveness are typically driven by structural factors and are characterised by lasting improvements in efficiency, capacity and innovation. They will therefore require time. In that regard, to support monitoring and oversight in respect of the broader aims of the action plan, the Government will continue to seek advice from the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-28