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Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

Is it too expensive to do business in Ireland?

Cost savings are temporary without reform, IBEC says.

IRELAND’S COMPETITIVENESS WATCHDOG has warned that further action is needed to make sure businesses aren’t priced out of operating in Ireland.

In a new report, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) found that while Ireland’s cost base “has improved…over the last four or five years”, the country remains a high cost location for business, and warns that costs could again be on the rise.

The evidence collected in this report suggests that the Irish economy has rached a turning point in terms of cost competitiveness…relative cost competitiveness in Ireland is now disimproving.

The report flags labour costs, property costs and rent increases, as well as prices for business services as particularly likely to get more expensive in the short term.

Particular attention is given to the high cost of credit for smaller businesses, with interest rates for non-financial corporations 31 per cent higher than the euro area on loans up to €1 million, and 27 per cent higher on loans above €1 million.

IBEC points finger at slow pace of reform

The NCC attributes price falls to the recent economic turmoil, rather than a more fundamental readjustment which would mean businesses could look forward to a less expensive future.

Ibec’s director of business representation Mary Rose Burke echoed this, saying that cheaper prices during the recession had not been acheived by reforms, and therefore weren’t likely to stick around for long if the economy improves.

We’ve seen no structural changes that will fundamentally change the cost of living and the cost of doing business.

The NCC report concludes: “Looking to the future, futher structural or policy induced changes are necessary to ensure that prices do not escalate and erode competitiveness as the Irish economy returns to stronger rates of growth.”

Irish economy has stabilised, but more reform needed>

Taoiseach: We’ll consider tax cuts next year, if we can afford it>

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31 Comments
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    Mute Keith Ryan
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    Apr 26th 2016, 8:43 PM

    To gruesome to show here??

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    Mute Leo Lowe
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    Apr 26th 2016, 8:46 PM

    Two.

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    Mute bflood
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    Apr 26th 2016, 8:50 PM

    Too

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    Mute Chris Ó Cinnseallaigh
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    Apr 26th 2016, 8:56 PM

    Thew

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    Mute Durty Divil
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    Apr 26th 2016, 8:58 PM

    ….one-eight-ninety…..

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    Mute Assel Dannourah
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:01 PM

    phew!

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    Mute Assel Dannourah
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:22 PM

    -97

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    Mute Leo Lowe
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:22 PM

    2

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    Mute Gary Guilfoyle
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:25 PM

    Tew

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    Mute Gerard Casserly
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:33 PM

    Tu-tu

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    Mute Brian Farrell
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:34 PM

    911

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    Mute Gerard Casserly
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:37 PM

    1+1=

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    Mute nf
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:46 PM

    Yoo hoo

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    Mute bingo
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    Apr 26th 2016, 10:06 PM

    Where is Frank? I miss Frank!

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    Mute Paul
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    Apr 26th 2016, 10:07 PM

    Chew

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    Mute Ruth Colbert
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    Apr 26th 2016, 10:10 PM

    Choo choo

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    Mute Durty Divil
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    Apr 26th 2016, 10:17 PM

    walla-walla-bing-bang!

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    Mute will
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    Apr 26th 2016, 10:40 PM

    Jaysus ya lost Me …

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    Mute Peter O Brennan
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    Apr 26th 2016, 10:46 PM

    who

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    Mute Brian MacCarthaigh
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    Apr 26th 2016, 11:20 PM

    Tree

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    Mute Zx5vZulB
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    Apr 27th 2016, 1:25 AM

    I don’t know what a tracker mortgage is

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    Mute Pádraig O'hEidhin
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    Apr 27th 2016, 8:43 AM

    Marty Whelan shagged my sister!

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    Mute James Walsh
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    Apr 27th 2016, 9:58 AM

    KooKoo Kachew

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    Mute Rowe
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    Apr 26th 2016, 8:54 PM

    Welcome to the real world of their twisted Ideology, thankfully he only snuffed out his own life and not any innocents.

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    Mute jenni
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:01 PM

    As disgustingly gruesome as it might be..if it demonstrates to all these young people running over to Syria what will be their eventual fate, it might stop some of them going.

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    Mute Chief
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:01 PM

    Amazingly the people in the restaurant only suffered minor injuries.

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    Mute Martin Gallagher
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:11 PM

    C’est bien fait pour lui, I say. Feed his remains to the pigs and guillotine all the rest of the Islamist dogs.

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    Mute Paddy Ryan
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    Apr 26th 2016, 10:50 PM

    Mais oui bien sur..qui seme le vent….

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    Mute Paddy Ryan
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    Apr 26th 2016, 8:48 PM

    Show exactly what these lunatics do ? Sure we cant be having that….

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    Mute Ciarán Masterson
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    Apr 26th 2016, 11:36 PM

    I’m amazed that nobody other than the bomber died in that explosion.

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    Mute Peter Fechter
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    Apr 26th 2016, 8:46 PM

    I cant be ar##d..ive seen loads of sunnis get atomised on youtube and liveleaks.

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    Mute Peter Cavey
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    Apr 27th 2016, 1:12 AM

    Pop goes the weasel

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    Mute Cal McLaughlin
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    Apr 26th 2016, 8:46 PM

    Terror gore.
    Hopefully this doesn’t set a precedent for a ratings war of blood.

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    Mute John Flood
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    Apr 27th 2016, 1:19 PM

    Just curious about the headline – “apparent” – who writes these headlines?

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    Mute Wayne Scales
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    Apr 26th 2016, 8:58 PM

    We don’t to see this,it’s exactly what they would want.

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    Mute Chief
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:03 PM

    He was the only one that died. Everyone else only suffered minor injuries. I’d say that’s a good kick up the hole for them.

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    Mute Francis Keane
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:19 PM

    I would have assumed that broadcasting such footage would be counter-productive in efforts to prevent similar events.

    If the motives of the people behind the attacks thrive on distilling fear, wouldn’t this be advertising their cause? Especially the prominence of fame amongst peers.

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    Mute Leo Lowe
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:24 PM

    Yes, there will be queues of people in the streets tomorrow copying this.

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    Mute Francis Keane
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:42 PM

    Not quite what I meant, I’m talking about the deciding factor for people who are already involved with those groups, not the recruitment.
    Essentially what these people are doing is trying to send a message rather than killing specific people. I’m not saying that a media blackout is possible, but hypothetically speaking if a blackout was to happen every time an attack like this happened, would they stop happening?

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    Mute Francis Keane
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    Apr 26th 2016, 9:40 PM

    Not quite what I meant, I’m talking about the deciding factor for people who are already involved with those groups, not the recruitment.

    Essentially what these people are doing is trying to send a message rather than killing specific people. I’m not saying that a media blackout is possible, but hypothetically speaking if a blackout was to happen every time an attack like this happened, would they stop happening?

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    Mute bingo
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    Apr 26th 2016, 10:12 PM

    Francis, You have a point sort of regarding fear but I think keeping people in the dark is always a bad idea and possibly causes more fear and as Jenni points out it may stop some people from acting.

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    Mute Francis Keane
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    Apr 26th 2016, 11:22 PM

    That’s a fair point! I was calling out the extremes.

    What I meant to establish was just the format of which it’s delivered, there’s no need to keep people in the dark with these events. But does releasing video footage have any benefits?

    1
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