IT IS still far too early to identify an end to the global recession, though some commentators in the US are of the view its economy is showing signs of potential growth next year.
If that's the case then, by it's sheer scale on the global economic stage, it may well help to pull other countries back in the right direction. Will Ireland be among them?
That would be the hope and expectation given that Ireland's open economic model should theoretically benefit on the back of an export-driven model and a potential return to stability in terms of foreign-direct investment (FDI).
Yet there are some fundamental problems that need to be addressed. At the start of the recession, the issues of cost competitiveness, tax policy and investment in science and education were highlighted. Have they been addressed yet or are we even close to dealing with them?
Wages have been reduced and the painful impact of these cuts are evident in households across the land. Yet we have not cut costs in a vacuum. In terms of global competitiveness the jury is still out as to whether we have adjusted our economy to put us in a better position, or merely matched our economic rivals.
For small businesses, there remains a limited access to credit that hinders any attempt at recovery. What the Government can do about this is still open to question. Credit is the lifeblood of small business and access to resurgent export markets depends as much on the local financing as it does on new markets for sales.
In pursuit of the so-called smart economy, science research and education clearly are the bedrocks of any recovery, but investments in these sectors take time to bear fruit. That's a difficult call for a Government pre-occupied with making immediate cuts and short-term decisions.
In many instances such investments link back to the potential for recovery through FDI. Company executives in the big multinationals, who we hope to attract and retain, are not going to listen to promises of a new dawn while witnessing cuts in education and research spending on the ground.
