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DURING A DEBATE this week about Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor’s plan to entice emigrants back home with a 30% tax rate, Taoiseach Enda Kenny sought to underline Ireland’s attractiveness as a place to invest.
He claimed “We are number one in the world for skilled labour”.
That’s a big claim – is it true?
(Remember, if you hear a claim about Ireland’s global rankings, email factcheck@thejournal.ie or tweet @TJ_FactCheck).
Claim: Ireland ranks first in the world for skilled labour
Verdict: FALSE
What was said:
Kenny was speaking in response to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, during Wednesday’s Leader’s Questions. You can watch an excerpt of his statement, above. This is the section we’re interested in:
What we want to do is to continue to have the country recognised as an attractive location for investment. We are number one in the world for skilled labour, we’ve climbed up nine places in terms of competitiveness…
FactCheck asked Fine Gael and the Taoiseach’s office for evidence in support of his claim. Kenny’s spokesperson stated that the source was the 2014 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook.
This is an annual report produced by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), a business school based in Switzerland and Singapore.
It evaluates competitiveness based on four main factors: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
Each of those four are comprised of 20 sub-factors, which are in turn comprised of 340 measured criteria.
One sub-factor of “business efficiency” is availability of skills, and one criterion of that is the availability of skilled labour.
In 2014, Ireland ranked 15th in the world for overall competitiveness, which is nine places higher than three years previously, and ranked first in the world for the ready availability of skilled labour.
These two points were highlighted by the IDA at the time (although they got the number of years wrong), in similar terms to those used by the Taoiseach on Wednesday.
…The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2014 puts Ireland at number 15 in overall global competitiveness rankings, and first for availability of skilled labour in the world.
Ireland has moved up nine places in overall competitiveness over the last four [sic] years.
So both statements made by Kenny in the Dáil on Wednesday were true of Ireland in 2014.
But that was two years ago – how are we faring now?
FactCheck obtained a copy of the 2016 World Competitiveness Yearbook, which shows that our overall ranking increased between 2015 and 2016 – from 16th to 7th in the world.
On skilled labour, however, we are ranked 5th in the world, not first. The Taoiseach’s claim is based on accurate but out-of-date figures.
We rate this claim FALSE.
You can see how Ireland ranks on all the major measures of competitiveness, here.
TheJournal.ie’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here.
For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here.
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We do lead the world in politicians talking crap.
@Enda Ireland: The problem here with us is that our history was ruined by informers, we do breed a lot of people who enjoy serving others behind backs and that is what ruins us as a people and nation. We can still see that in how the Dail works and how this country is run, we do not do a thing without running to Merkel, IMF or ECB behind the peoples backs?
@Alois Irimaier
I think we have career advisors in gray suits running the country, Kenny and his kind are just the face of government these people behind closed doors walk away with big pensions never taking any flack for the decisions and cuts they implement.
What is your source for this “fact”?
@Enda Ireland:
Who checks FactCheck and who cheques FactCheck?
The source is quite clear. … i heard a man with two pints say exactly the same thing.
@Enda Ireland: Skilled my arse. TALENTED
@Enda Ireland: You should travel more.
We lead the world in overpaying politicians
On a completely unrelated story. Where is the section that reviews the comments of the week highlighting the story that got the most green thumbs????? The story about denis O’Brien being called out by Donald trump got nearly 2000 green thumbs the biggest response I’ve every seen. Yet no comment from the journal. ie. WTF…
@Seymour business: Can’t be annoying poor DOB.
Or as he’s known to his friends O Bribe.
In fairness there’s not many people who believe Enda transparent government anymore.
We lead the world in corrupt politicians
Of course it’s false. Most of the comments made by fine gael are false.
It amazes me that we should try and debunk any such claim , rather instead , we have a queue of people who are more interested in getting in their FG are liars jibes. Who gives a shite if it FG/FF/ SF or the man in the moon , Isn’t that what a government should do . Ie promote us ?? Should they say we are ok , kinda of alright . To hell with that , we have a small population with little or no natural resources , we need to take any advantage or leg up we can get
@Tensing Norgay: OK…let them away with lies and corruption….wouldn’t want to upset any pocket stuffers or their supporters.
Ha ha… very good…so they’re not flat out lying to us.. they’re promoting us.. “best little country to do business “, “most talented people ” etc. while the country’s colleges have fallen off the academic scale under their watch. Sure they only have our best interests at heart…
Tensing. Maybe it’s just me but I’d like to think that the members of the dail would only speak facts and not just make stuff up. What if a foreign company decided to invest here after listening to enda speak only to find out what he said wasn’t true, it’s important that people know that td’s only speak facts and I think that’s more important than waffling out any old rubbish. I know you disagree but it seems to me you’ve excepted a low threshold for accountability in governance.
@Aoife: Tensing needs to come down off his mountain and see the breakdown of our society that FG caused by playing people off against each other just so they could stay stuffing their pockets.
FG are parasites and nothing more.
al…as parasites go, they are fairly awful yokes..but to compare them to any FG Td is insulting to any parasite. have we a word for lower than parasite?
Jesus, can Fine Tory even open their mouths without lying anymore?
Same type of spin as their British counterparts who can rob you blind while telling you you’re getting a good deal.
Cmon people, get them out of Dail Eireann before it’s too late.
In fairness, we were number one last year. Not so much blatant lies as bigging us up a tad.
We pay these guys way too much. All elected politicians should have use the Public Health Service by law and their salaries should be limited to 10 times the minimum wage……
We’d have some world class health system then… And on minimum wage wouldn’t be a bad place to be!!!
@john doe: Don’t forget the €4,000 a month in expenses that can be claimed by all TD’s…..and now we can’t know what those expenses are anymore, because Howlin pushed through a motion last year on the QT under the guise of privacy.
Let’s hear again, that great word they said would be their mantra……’Transparency!’
Bitch moan all you want, elect fecktards or children of fecktards expect fecktards or just blame the British. In all honesty do you actually give a shit or just wannabe rebels.
Skilled Labour, the party fails as well.
Irelands main attraction at the moment are the tremendous tax breaks on offer for multinationals. Sadly not available for SMEs….
Where’s my tax cut. I remained in Ireland helping to keep this raft afloat and was the meat in the sandwich between the handouts and the corrupt ones who escaped paying their fair share
I see the ghost of Blue Hugh no longer haunts The Journal office.. you wouldn’t have gotten that verdict two years ago if circumstances were the same.
Enda’s biggest problem is that he’s been caught lying so many times that nobody believes a word that he says.
World leaders in useless politicians that take the county for a ride without fear of chastisement.
Two years is normal for enda to twig what’s going on
Do we need any more proof,this clown must go.
We were once a nation of skilled tradesmen back in the so called days of the Boom. When the building trade fell apart it sent the country into a whirlwind of huge unemployment & another era of Doom & Gloom. In my home town our young 20 something’s left for foreign shores just like other towns in Ireland. Older people like myself were told to retrain in the computer workforce & some did, with a result we have an overload of people retrained in this employment & most of our young & up & coming tradesmen have gone to other shores. I was taught years ago, when the building trade was up & going the country feeds of that & a lot of people gain employment from it. Will we have the workforce to regain those years again, I don’t think so.
Liam I did a course on computers a while back and a man on it, an unemployed builder in his late fifties with hands like shovels had been told to do it or else. He was trying to learn to type but was having zero success, it was a total mismatch of skills.
@Aoife: My exact point, I’ve met some of these people over the years. Some were good at it others on an older age found it harder to cope. Back about 25 years when the training centres were called ‘Anco’ it was similar. We all gathered in a room & spent our days with a copy of the Irish Times & were told to apply for all the jobs from a MD’s job to a dog walkers job even doe some of the jobs would neither suit our experience or training, we were given a banana to train in mock phone interviews. Can you believe in that. Mr Kenny & a lot of his colleagues were in Leinster House back then.
Skilled labour…..is that labours way or Frankfurts way!!
Delighted Mayo lost Kenny Ye big Bollox Ye.
Yes, of course we do. It’s one of our main exports.
So he is still telling lies
Cmon Journal, let’s have a fact check on the classic Thomas Byrne tale earlier today
This is the second Fact check that’s sought to undermine, albeit with facts, our marketing platitudes for FDI.
Not cool, beginning to think this is a UK site in disguise
@clad: The markets are influenced by Mary and her ability to be lie with impunity?!
Well, you learn something every day.
My God! We are only 5th in the World. Awful news!
Maybe but definitely not in Politicans all we have are clowns
Shows how FoS Enda is on many levels! If we have the most skilled and educated labor force as he proclaims, then surely thats good enough reason for multinationals to be setting up and employing here and paying the proper rate of tax for availing of our highly skilled workforce?!!??!
Free the Journal 50
@Powerabbey: Is that all you got left, since FG went nosediving?…..it’s pitiful.
and “availability of skilled labour” mean?
What colour is the sky in Enda’s world?
We are years behind.
Our true experts emigrate and the ones I know have no intention of returning.
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