NCC membership and mandate revealed

The NCC, which had its first meeting with the Minister in Government Buildings today, has been reconfigured “to help drive the development and implementation of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs”.

It will continue to be chaired by Dr Don Thornhill, who is joined by Martin Shanahan, chief executive, Forfás; Liam Casey, PCH; Prof Peter Clinch, VP innovation in UCD; Shay Cody, ICTU; Clare Dunne, DJEI; Isolde Goggin, chairperson, Competition Authority; John Herlihy, Google; Danny McCoy, IBEC; Sean Murphy, CCI; Sean O’Driscoll, Glen Dimplex; Louise Phelan, PayPal; Heather Reynolds, Eishtech; Dave Shanahan, AbbVie; and Paul Sweeney, ICTU.

In March, the Government appointed Casey, Herlihy, O’Driscoll, Phelan, Reynolds and Shanahan to assist with the implementation and monitoring of seven ‘disruptive reforms’ as part of the Action Plan for Jobs. At the time, he also appointed them to the NCC. Today’s meeting coincided with a meeting held by the Taoiseach and Minister Bruton with the six industry partners.

According to Minister Bruton’s Department, the new NCC will continue to produce work on policy documents like the annual Ireland’s Competitiveness Scorecard but, in a change to its mandate, will now be asked to input to the “Building Competitive Advantage” section of each subsequent Action Plan for Jobs report. It is intended that several policy spin-offs will evolve through the establishment of this formal link: that the industry partners will now be able to bring their professional experience and the experience of policy implementation to the NCC so that its outputs will reflect that accumulated knowledge and insight; that the NCC’s contribution to the Building Competitive Advantage section of each APJ will drive an action oriented set of time bound recommendations that will be monitored and reviewed each quarter with the clear intent of implementation; and that the profile of the industry partners and the other new members will promote and prioritise the competitiveness agenda and actions to help drive improvements in business costs.

“A central part of the Government’s plan for jobs and growth is ensuring that we drive improvements in our competitiveness,” said Minister Bruton. “Recent evidence shows that while we have made major gains in this area in recent years, much of that risks being only temporary. If we are to create the jobs we need, we must focus relentlessly on continuing to reduce business costs and improve our competitiveness.

“The National Competitiveness Council has a key role to play in driving these changes. The reforms announced today will bring new thinking and energy to this crucial agenda. They will also copperfasten the Council’s role in developing and implementing Government policy in this area through the Action Plan for Jobs.