Former Brian Cowen adviser appointed as NCC chair

Peter Clinch, one-time advisor to former taoiseach, Brian Cowen, has been appointed chair of the National Competitiveness Council.

He replaces Don Thornhill who recently retired. Mr Clinch is the Jean Monnet Professor of Economic Integration at UCD.

Minister for Jobs and Enterprise, Richard Bruton, said Professor Clinch will have a new “focus on productivity as well as competitiveness and to propose solutions to specific competitiveness issues that impact on business”.

Mr Bruton has also appointed Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, to the council along with Micheál Collins, who is a senior research officer with the Nevin Economic Research Institute, and Kevin Callinan, deputy general secretary, Impact as the two nominees of ICTU to replace two previous nominees, Paul Sweeney and Shay Cody, of Congress whose terms have come to an end.

In 2013, Mr Bruton reconfigured the structure and mandate of the NCC to include the six private sector industry partners, and also to give it a more central role in developing and implementing Action Plan for Jobs measures on competitiveness.