Ireland may become a second-class economy

IRELAND is in danger of becoming a second-class economy in a two-tier Europe, losing jobs and investment to other countries.

A report on the EU’s progress in becoming the world’s number one knowledge-based economy, due to be published today, warns some countries are failing to meet the targets. It blames individual governments for not implementing reforms to create more jobs and wealth. It also warns that while countries like Sweden, Denmark and Finland are striding ahead, they are in danger of leaving other countries behind.

The Irish business and employers organisation, IBEC, said yesterday that Ireland was in the second group and was lagging behind the northern countries. “To get into the first division, we have to make a lot of improvements, especially in competitiveness, our infrastructure and telecoms. And, of course, the big one is our labour costs,” said Cathal Lynch of IBEC’s Brussels office.