Talk the talk

John Dunne, chief executive of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland (CCI), talks to David Clerkin.

Please tell us about this week’s CCI forum. Where does it take place and what will be discussed?

This year’s National Business Forum will take place in the Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork on Friday. The theme is ‘Delivering Competitiveness Through Innovation and Strategy’ and the speakers include Willie Walsh, chief executive designate of British Airways; Rosheen McGuckian, chief executive of GE Money; and Suzanne Rosselet McCauley, author of the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook.

How big an issue is competitiveness for Irish businesses?

The latest IMD survey showed Ireland had dropped in the world competitiveness rankings from 7th to 12th since 2001. While 12th in a list of 60 economies is still very good, this rapid decline is worrying. The biggest threat to our competitiveness is our basic infrastructure (we’re in 44th place in the rankings) and our technological infrastructure (we’re 34th).

What’s caused the deterioration?

Wage increases have had a significant impact - particularly those in the public sector. It is appropriate that everyone should benefit from our increased wealth but in some cases expectations are unrealistic. This is particularly true of the public sector.

Our continuing inability to resolve the failings of our planning system is also a significant factor in preventing the necessary improvements in all types of infrastructure.

What can be done to address the problem?

Irish businesses need to be very clever - we’ve stopped paying ourselves peanuts and so we have to stop monkeying around with the problems. Individual enterprises need to increase productivity and value-added activity through investment in training and R&D. As a country we need to achieve better value for spending on capital infrastructure.

Ireland needs to be seen as a place in which international business is enabled to be successful - by availability of high quality capital and human resources, world class businesses and the best regulatory environment.

Has the euro made things better or worse, from a competitiveness point of view?

The net effect of depreciation and appreciation has tended to be less acute than high profile problem cases might suggest. The euro has kept interest rates much lower than they would otherwise have been in Ireland, and that has helped the economy.