AFTER A DECADE of inflation and high costs, prices in Ireland are moderating, that’s the good news from a new report by the National Competitiveness Council. The report says “since January2008, Ireland has regained some of its lost cost competitiveness as domestic inflation remains below
that of our main trading partners and as the euro has weakened.”

This report highlights tangible improvements in the cost of doing business in Ireland and outlines significant falls in property and energy costs. However, the report does say some costs continue to increase or remain relatively high. Property, broadband and legal fees are cited as being costly by the (NCC).

Although energy costs for business decreased by 24% in 2009, Ireland is still the sixth most expensive country of 14 the report benchmarked.

The report also said that mobile phone costs for business were down significantly and that Dublin has become more competitive.

For consumers the report found that Ireland is still expensive when it comes to buy groceries it is the second most expensive in the EU.

However, the average Irish employee must work a shorter amount of time than those in most other benchmarked locations to earn enough to buy branded consumer goods such as an iPod Nano or a Big Mac.