Sutherland's dose of reality

One More Thing:The World Economic Forum in Davos last month gave Peter Sutherland, chairman of oil giant BP and Goldman Sachs International - and Ireland's top mover and shaker at the annual Swiss summit - an opportunity to sound a warning about his native land becoming too complacent.

Sutherland pointed out that Ireland was the largest beneficiary by far of regional support from the EU between 1973 and 1991, yet the country did nothing during this period except end up with massive unemployment, the highest GDP-debt ratio in Europe and a substantial budget deficit.

The removal of cross-border trade barriers in Europe, Ireland's entry into the euro and particularly the lowering of the Irish corporation tax transformed the Irish economy, says Sutherland. However, he warned that rising costs would erode our competitiveness, make the corporate tax rate seem less attractive and may even force Irish businesses to move offshore.

"Let's stop fooling ourselves that we have some unique capacity to be a greater economic success than anyone else anywhere.

"It just doesn't make sense," said Sutherland.