Minister Burke welcomes Ireland’s Competitiveness Challenge 2025 Report

8th July 2025

The Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke, welcomes the publication today of Ireland’s Competitiveness Challenge 2025, by the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council.

Minister Burke said:

"I welcome the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council’s analysis and recommendations, as set out in Ireland’s Competitiveness Challenge 2025. I also welcome the various positive findings by the Council about Ireland’s competitiveness performance – including an overall ranking of 7th in the IMD World Competitiveness Rankings – and concur with the Council’s assessment that we must not take our strong position for granted, given the highly competitive and uncertain global context in which we find ourselves. It is important for Ireland to retain its core strengths while addressing weaknesses."

This year’s Challenge report sets out a range of key issues facing Ireland’s economy over the medium to long-term with a clear emphasis on addressing those matters within our own control. The report's high-level actions focus on exercising restraint in fiscal policy, addressing the cost of doing business, taking immediate action on infrastructural deficits, preparing the workforce for the future, and investing in digitalisation to improve productivity.

The Minister added:

"This work by the Council is highly valuable to Government. This year’s Challenge report has been an important input into the development of the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity which was discussed at the second annual Competitiveness Summit this week. The Government will take the recommendations from the Council into consideration and will issue a formal reply in due course."

Ireland’s Competitive Challenge 2025 draws on the best available domestic and international research, and the most recent data available at the time of publication. This report makes 19 targeted and actionable recommendations to Government on the best ways to improve the competitiveness and productivity of the economy. Along with immediate issues facing the Irish economy, five medium- to long-term challenge areas are explored in detail in separate chapters of the report.

This year, the Council has brought forward the publication of the Challenge report, with a view to making the report an important input to the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity.

Notes to editors

The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) was established in 1997 (then the National Competitiveness Council) to report to the Taoiseach, through the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, on key competitiveness issues facing the Irish economy. In 2019, the NCPC was designated as Ireland’s National Productivity Board. 

As part of its work, the NCPC makes recommendations on policy actions required to enhance Ireland’s competitive position. The NCPC publishes three main research outputs:

• The Competitiveness Scorecard benchmarks Ireland against international competitors on areas of competitiveness and productivity. This is published every three years (and was last published in 2024).
• The Competitiveness Challenge is an annual publication in which the NCPC makes recommendations for Government on key challenges to Ireland’s international competitiveness.
• NCPC Bulletins are short and focused research notes, examining specific topics within the sphere of competitiveness and productivity. The NCPC releases multiple Bulletins each year. These short pieces often feed into the NCPC’s main Challenges report.

The members of the Council are:

ENDS

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