The Government has pledged to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses, as part of efforts to make Ireland more competitive.
The commitment forms part of a new Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity, launched today, aimed at increasing Ireland's international competitiveness and resilience.
It is designed to boost innovation, investment and productivity in key areas of the economy, in light of the evolving geopolitical and international trade environment.
The 124-page plan, which covers six key areas, sets out 85 actions, of which 26 are described as priorities.
The areas cover "Embracing Research, Innovation and Skills", "Boosting FDI and Exports and Influencing at EU Level", "Creating and Scaling More SMEs", "Regulating for Growth and Controlling Costs", "Increasing the State’s Capacity to Deliver Infrastructure" and "Growing Sustainable Irish Businesses and Boosting Regional Development".
The wide-ranging actions contained in the plan include significantly reducing regulation for SMEs, establishing a National Artificial Intelligence Office to drive innovation and uptake in AI and scaling-up funding for SMEs.
The plan also commits to publish a new national Life Sciences Strategy and provide the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission with new powers to impose administrative financial sanctions for breaches of consumer protection legislation.
A plan to establish a new Regional Enterprise Development Fund is also among the other actions, along with setting up a Stakeholder Forum of key agencies to focus on the actions required to facilitate what is described as the "swift progression of daa's planning application for the construction of infrastructure including additional pier and stand capacity at Dublin Airport to facilitate an increase in passenger numbers to 40 million per annum, while respecting independence of planning authority."
The plan was launched today by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke and Minister of State Sean Canney.
The Government said the delivery of the initiative was accelerated given the changing international economic and trading environment.
Each of the actions is being assigned to a Government Department or Agency, which will have responsibility for its delivery within a specified time period.
The implementation of the plan will be overseen by a Senior Officials Group chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach.
The action plan noted that when the country's performance was benchmarked against other advanced economies, "the evidence clearly indicates that Ireland's competitiveness, while strong overall, is lagging some of our competitor jurisdictions in six key areas."
The Minister for Enterprise said the plan will provide the country with the "best chance to improve our infrastructure," which he said is under pressure in the areas of energy, water, housing and competitiveness.
"Yesterday's value offering will not survive today to attract more foreign direct investment and that's why we've brought forward this plan that really will chart where investment needs to go," Minister Peter Burke said.
He said energy has been a big pressure point for the country, adding that the Government now has "a very clear pathway of bringing more energy into the system, improving our infrastructure."
On regulation, Minister Burke said Ireland does need to do things "simpler, faster and lighter."
"We are very much focused on doing things sharper, really focused on efficiency, ensuring that regulation really matches its intended purpose," he said.
"Regulation should be there to protect us. It shouldn't be there to add latency onto some of the objectives of many firms across our country," he added.
Minister Burke said the Taoiseach and his department "will lead an effort to reducing regulatory burden in a number of areas whereby we believe it has got out of hand."
Asked if the plan could result in the number of regulatory bodies being reduced, he said: "We do need to be careful, but we need to ensure that any current regulator [does] things that really achieve the goals of the Irish economy, but also of business."
"We don't want a situation whereby so many reports are contradictory and it's that cross sectoral issue that as a huge concern right across government, that some regulators ask questions that have already been answered in other areas," he stated.
The Chairperson of the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council has welcomed the plan but said that "implementation is key."
Dr Frances Ruane said the NCPC will be "monitoring what's happening, the progress that is being made, and speaking publicly to that, so we keep it on track."
She said Ireland is "lagging behind in certain areas and we're losing space". She also said while the county does "pretty well in a lot of areas, but with basic infrastructure, we're down."
"If you look at something like water, which is such a crucial infrastructure for us, and we've got delays being announced in a situation where the public good is really being undermined, I think it's really important that that's kept in the focus, and we get movement on that, and we don't allow planning and other impediments to get in the way of the government delivering for society," she stated.
Dr Ruane said the Council will call out the Government "if they're not making the progress that we see is required."
She also said it would be "really good to see the budget this year reflect what the Government has committed to in the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity."
Business group Ibec has also welcomed the publication of the plan, which it described as "a very positive and important step in future-proofing Ireland's economic model in a time of global change."
Ibec's Executive Director of Lobbying and Influence, Fergal O’Brien, said over the past year we have experienced unprecedented levels of global trading uncertainty and the country's competitiveness has been significantly undermined in its vital trading relationship with the US.
He said the Action Plan sets out "practical and timebound measures to improve Ireland's overall competitiveness."
"It is vital to ensuring that we secure future international investment while creating the right conditions for Irish businesses to grow and internationalise," he added.
Mr O’Brien said the business representative group is "especially pleased" to see a number of its key asks reflected in the announcement, including "greater ambition for innovation investment, a commitment to increase public funding to match our competitors, reform of the R&D tax credit, and the development of a new national Life Sciences Strategy."
Ibec said Budget 2026 must provide the necessary resources to underpin the ambitions laid out in the plan and it said the Government must ensure accountability in delivering all aspects.
