Posted 26 January 2015
UCD’s Professor Peter Clinch appointed Chair of National Competitiveness Council
The Irish Government has announced Peter Clinch, Professor of Public Policy at University College Dublin, as the new Chair of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC). Professor Clinch will bring to the NCC a new focus on productivity as well as competitiveness, and propose solutions to specific competitiveness issues that impact on business.
The NCC reports to the Taoiseach and the Irish Government on key competitiveness issues facing the Irish economy and offers recommendations on policy actions required to enhance Ireland’s competitive position. In 2013 the structure and mandate of the NCC was changed to include the six private sector Industry Partners, and also to give it a more central role in developing and implementing the Action Plan for Jobs measures on competitiveness.
“Improving Ireland’s competitiveness is a key objective of the Action Plan for Jobs, and in the years since we started implementing the Plan our international rankings have improved significantly, going from 24th in 2011 to 14th in 2014.
However, if we are to create the numbers of jobs we need, we must do more. That is why we have put in place a range of measures to improve our competitiveness, including strengthening the National Competitiveness Council and giving it a central role in reporting to Government on a quarterly basis on competitiveness challenges,” said the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton who announced the new Chair of the NCC.
“Professor Clinch is a highly regarded economist with both national and international experience in providing economic analysis and policy advice to a wide range of bodies. We have discussed ways in which, as Chair, he can add to the work of the NCC by providing advice on productivity issues as well as competitiveness issues. Under his leadership, the NCC will also analyse in detail specific issues affecting business, and provide concrete recommendations on ways in which Government can deliver improvements,” he added.
Commenting on his appointment, Professor Peter Clinch said, “Ireland's ability to create well paid jobs, grow the economy and pay for social services like health and education depends upon having a competitive economy and increasing productivity - the value of what we do in each hour we work.
It is a great honour to be asked to Chair the NCC and I look forward to working with Minister Bruton and his team and my colleagues on the NCC to find ways to secure, and build upon, the competitive gains of the last years and to contribute to further employment growth.”
(Produced by UCD University Relations)
