‘We need to incentivise business not property’

Former Irish Minister for Science, Technology, Innovation & Natural Resources, Conor Lenihan has warned that unless Ireland weans itself off its property addiction and reforms the welfare system, we are all going to end up working for the Asian companies.

Speaking at the ITLG convention in the University of Limerick Mr Lenihan, who now works as an adviser to the Skolkovo Foundation, said since the 1960s, Ireland has incentivised property at the expense of business.

“If you look at the performance of the Irish state on tax, we spent enormous amounts of time and effort since the 1960s onwards incentivising property.