DUBLIN: Ireland has been placed 17th out of 189 economies in an international ranking looking at the ease of doing business.
The country’s ranking last year was actually revised from 13th to 19th place, as the gauge was expanded and changes were made to the methodology. Therefore, technically, Ireland has improved its ranking from last year.
Summarising business reforms in each country, the report pointed out that Ireland had strengthened minority investor protections by introducing provisions stipulating that directors can be held liable for a breach of their fiduciary responsibilities. But it also noted that Ireland had made paying taxes more costly and complicated for companies by increasing landfill levies and by requiring additional financial statements to be submitted with the income tax return.
The report found that Ireland slipped six points in its ranking for ease of starting a business, from 19 to 26.
It improved by eight points in the deal with construction permits category, but dropped one point in the ease of getting electricity, two points in registering a property, and four points in ease of getting credit. In the resolving insolvency ranking, it dropped three points.
The top ten countries for ease of doing business include Singapore in the top slot, followed by New Zealand, Denmark, South Korea, Hong Kong, the UK, United States, Sweden, Norway and Finland. The worst five, from the bottom up, include Eritrea, Libya, South Sudan, Venezuela, and the Central African Republic.
The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation said there is room for continuous improvement.
