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IRELAND HAS SLID further down the league table for the best countries in which to set up and run a business.
The Republic was 17th on the list in this year’s World Bank’s annual Doing Business report, which measures how national regulations work to both help and hinder indigenous enterprise.
That was a drop of 8 positions compared to 2011, when Ireland featured in the top-10 locations for ease of doing business worldwide.
The World Bank’s analysis covers 11 types of regulation to measure everything from the difficulty involved in starting a business, to getting electricity, paying taxes and enforcing contracts.
Ireland scored well among peers for protecting minority investors and its company tax system – which both rated among the 8 best in the world.
But its systems scored particularly low when it came to enforcing contracts, for which the country was marked as being roughly on par with many developing nations.
The best of the rest
Singapore topped this year’s ease of doing business rankings, followed by New Zealand, Denmark, South Korea and Hong Kong.
Ireland’s rating put it behind the UK, US, Australia and Canada, but above several major EU economies like France, the Netherlands and Spain.
Last year Forbes ranked the Republic 4th in its list of the best countries for business behind Denmark, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
The magazine’s assessment is based on a different set of criteria, including marks for personal freedom, technology and corruption within a nation.
Meanwhile, Dublin was last week ranked 8th in Europe when it came to major cities in which to start a business. London topped the list, followed by Amsterdam and Stockholm.
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So we are Not the best little country!
Take that Enda!
Yeah, we are probably 3rd behind Singapore and Estonia … being the other little countries in the list.
Not a bad achievement.
Ehh have you even read the list?New Zealand, Finland and Denmark are also little countries that rank ahead of us.
Dang, we’re 6th. That is awful.
Ease of enforcing contracts = transparency and efficiency of legal system.
Unfortunately, since Labour and Frances Fitzgerald gutted the most important measures that Alan Shatter had included in the Legal Services bill (at the behest of vested interests in the legal profession) our score on this is likely to fall further in thee years ahead.
It wasn’t the only thing she gutted. She also gutted Shatter’s initial intentions of giving unmarried fathers automatic guardianship, and more recently has opted to criminalise those seeking the services of prostitutes whilst politically whoring herself to the legal profession.
Still, FG are the Big Farmers and Barristers Party and some things never change.
Shatter would have had the bill pushed through before Fitzgerald took over if it hadn’t been for Labour’s opposition in cabinet.
What will kenny say now. The 17th best little country in the world in which to do business..
Actually more like 4th to be fair, the majority of those countries that beat Ireland are quite large. Still a few small ones in there like Singapore and Denmark which beat Ireland.
In fairness Jason, Ireland is one of the smaller countries in the world.
I think its size is a really null point to make, it has little relevance in real terms.
”we’re the best ‘celtic’ nation to do business!!” meaningless..
Look at the size of our country and yet what we continue to achieve on the world stage in music, boxing, UFC, rugby and general craic agus ceol… all DESPITE our politicians.
Imagine what our international reputation could be like if we had real leaders at the helm.
not to mention movies!
And the best for foreign multinationals. We need to look after our own first..
Helping multinationals and helping the citizens of the country are not mutually exclusive.
What’s good for multinationals in Ireland can be good for ordinary citizens too.
North Korea higher than us……….
Renua the best party for develop truly business friendly conditions and back SME’s.
Yeah but you’d have to listen to Eddie Hobbs.
Down 8 places since this government came to power I wonder what spin will they put on this !!!!!!!
But the arrow beside Ireland in the table “indicates an improvement in
the score between 2014 and 2015 ” according to the report.
Thanks, Enda et al…..
…
oops… haha. Don’t know what I did, there – that was supposed to be ‘Stability…’
What do you expect when we’ve got overpaid muppets trying to run the country, clueless walter mitty enda, uselss talktojoan joan, and jobs, jobs, jobs,full of bluff, no substance bruton.
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