The new president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland has said Ireland's reputation abroad has taken a battering and has been tarnished by recent events.
Speaking at his first press conference since taking over the organisation's presidency, Gerard Kilcommins called on the Government to recognise this and support the rebuilding of Ireland's reputation as a secure and successful international business hub.
Mr Kilcommins is vice-president of global operations for Medtronic Vascular, and the general manager of its Galway site, which employs more than 2,000 people.
He said multi-national companies planned investment decisions two or three years in advance, and the effect of the fall-out from the economic and banking crises may not be felt until 2012 or beyond.
Mr Kilcommins said Ireland's attractiveness for investment as a whole should be promoted as an integrated government communications campaign, highlighting the many positives of this country.
On corporation tax, he said it was absolutely critical that Ireland retained its low corporation tax rate. He said to change the rate would be detrimental to domestic and foreign multi-national companies operating in a tough economic climate. 60% of all corporation tax, worth €2.4 billion in 2009, is paid by the foreign direct investment sector.
On competitiveness, Mr Kilcommins said recent evidence points towards an improvement in costs, but he said much more needed to be done. Ireland's cost base is still significantly higher than comparable locations despite recent falls in wages and prices in the last two years, he added. He said manufacturing workers' wages were still above the OECD average.
