After struggling for so long in the face of poor economic performance, policy-makers are now confronting the problems of success. For years economic policy has aimed to maximise the number of jobs created and thus reduce unemployment; now the challenge is to supply enough skilled employees to fill the jobs available. Rapid economic growth has also left infrastructure, particularly roads, creaking under the strain. And tensions are evident about how the spoils of economic growth should be divided.
The Government is understandably content with the recent figures from the quarterly household survey by the Central Statistics Office. They show that in the year to last October the total number of people at work rose by 72,000, to exceed 1.5 million for the first time. Meanwhile unemployment, as measured by this survey, has fallen to just 6.4 per cent of the labour force, or 106,000 people.
The figures demonstrate an extraordinary transformation in our economic performance. From being the unemployment blackspot of Europe, the economy now has one of the lowest jobless rates in the EU. The performance of the jobs market has been exceptional. For every two jobs now being created, only one can be filled from the natural increase in the population, raising the spectre of labour shortages as unemployment continues to fall. Against this background, the decision to get FAS to try to attract back emigrants and entice other EU nationals to work here is laudable.
Those who formulate economic policy - in Government and the public service - are having to change their outlook completely. A more selective approach is needed in attracting multinationals and much greater incentives will be on offer for those willing to invest in the lesser developed regions. A major programme of new investment is being formulated under the new National Development Plan. This must be much more than a blueprint for spending EU and Exchequer investment funds; it must also tackle such issues as the planning process, where slow decision-making is a major problem.
The suggestion by Mr Ruairi Quinn that an "absolute quantum leap" is required in our approach to infrastructural investment is worthy of consideration. He has said that a special Cabinet Minister should be appointed to deal with the necessary investment, while the National Treasury Management Agency should be responsible for raising and managing the funds.
The Government must also deal with demands from many sectors of society for a greater share of the national cake. Clearly long-term unemployment and poverty remain key issues, with many left behind by our recent economic success. And the Government faces huge difficulties in negotiating a new national agreement. The promise of further substantial tax reductions - and the introduction of new profit-sharing schemes in many businesses - might go some way towards moderating wage demands, but an agreement will still be difficult to conclude.
Such are the problems now facing the economy in terms of labour shortages and congestion that economic growth may soon start to slow. The task of the Government is to do all it can to ensure that the growth moderates as gently as possible and that the foundations are put in place to allow the economy to continue to outperform the rest of Europe in the years ahead.