Trichet: Ireland is moving towards competitiveness

IRELAND has taken the necessary steps towards regaining competitiveness on its labour costs, ECB president, Jean-Claude Trichet, told the European Parliament in what came close to a vote of confidence in the Government.

He was pressed by several members of the Parliament on the danger Ireland poses to the euro and on what one MEP called the “massive competitive distortion” of our corporation tax.

Mr Trichet avoided answering these attacks directly but said that each government had to do its job as had each of the EU institutions in dealing with the current economic environment.