Call for State to concentrate on needs of business

The needs of business should be at the heart of Government policy-making, according to a blueprint for industrial development over the next 10 years published yesterday.

The Enterprise Strategy Group set up by the Tánaiste has called for twice yearly cabinet meetings devoted entirely to business issues, and a new expert group on enterprise to advise the Cabinet.

It would be made up of the heads of six Government departments and four senior figures from business. The aim would be for the State to be "faster, more efficient and responsive than competitor countries," in making industrial policy, according to the group.

Launching the group's report the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, acknow-ledged that garnering political support for such a prioritisation of business may be difficult given public concern about areas such as education and health.

"Social inclusion depends on economic success. The more wealth we create, the more resources we have to spend," she said. She also indicated that she expects to move from her Enterprise post in the planned Cabinet reshuffle in the autumn, so promoting implementation of the report will be left in large part to her successor.

The group was drawn from industry, academia and the social partners. It sought the views of hundreds of businesses over the last 11 months via 14 advisory groups and also sought submissions from interested parties.

The placing of "enterprise" at the "heart of Government" is one of five areas which the group believes should be the focus of industrial policy.

The others areas include the development of marketing ex- pertise, with targeting by the IDA of international sales and marketing operations. Enterprise Ireland, the agency responsible for developing Irish-owned business should have a new focus on encouraging sales and export marketing.

There is also a need for more investment in research and technology and the training of people currently in work, it says.

The group also identified education and the tax regime as areas in which Government policy could give Irish business an advantage.

It makes 52 recommendations, many of which are unlikely to face too much opposition, while others may prove controversial. They include reform of the way the energy and communications markets are regulated, as well as retention of the current 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate. The chairman of the group, Mr Eoin O'Driscoll, said yesterday that the group took the view that the current rate was the most favourable for "revenue generation".

There was a broad welcome for the report from Opposition parties yesterday. But the Labour Party said it highlighted weaknesses in the relationships between - and within - Government departments, while Fine Gael said the report's call for cabinet meetings devoted to business amounted to "an indictment" of the Government's current efforts.

In its report, the group said it was offering "a route map to sustainable employment and national prosperity for Ireland. Delivering these is a collective national responsibility".

Ms Harney announced yesterday that Mr O'Driscoll will be appointed chairman of Forfás, the body that co-ordinates industrial policy. One of the recommendations of the group is that Forfás, Enterprise Ireland and the IDA should have a common chairman.