Role of the agencies: Job creation agencies such as the IDA and Enterprise Ireland should establish closer links to ensure policies are co-ordinated, the strategy group's report recommends.
It also calls on FÁS to devote more resources to training people at work and less to schemes such as community employment. The boards of Forfás, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland should have a number of directors in common, and in particular a common chairperson, it argues.
The group's chairman, Mr Eoin O'Driscoll, said it was not proposing to place enterprise development in the hands of a single agency.
It was "critically important", he said, that agencies continued to develop in parallel to realise their full potential. Mr O'Driscoll was himself appointed chairman of Forfás yesterday by the Tánaiste, Ms Harney.
The report says a continued focus on foreign direct investment would be an important part of Ireland's future economic success. But greater success in developing indigenous interntionally-trading companies will also be critical, it suggests.
State intervention, which should only take place to address market failures, needs to be adapted to support future needs, it says. This requires increasing collaboration between existing enterprise agencies, including the 35 city and county enterprise boards.
These should be integrated into the mainstream enterprise development system by establishing a central co-ordination unit in Enterprise Ireland, the report suggests. It also says the activities of Shannon Development should be brought within the remit of Enterprise Ireland the IDA.
"Plans for decentralisation, which envisage the relocation of the headquarters of Enterprise Ireland (with 300 staff) to Shannon, call into question the need for a separate development agency in the form of Shannon Development."
Given that enhancing the skills of the labour force will grow in importance, FÁS should further prioritise activities aimed at training people in work, the report says. "The Government should review its approach to the delivery of the community employment and training initiatives. These should not be a priority for FÁS."