Ireland best country in the world ...

Sunnyisland

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1204/490964-forbes-poll/

Ireland has been named the best country in the world for business by influential US financial magazine Forbes.
It is the first time Ireland has topped the list since it began in 2006.
Ireland moved up from number six out of 145 countries analysed last year due to improved scores on monetary freedom and the high return from the Irish Stock Exchange Overall Index.
The rest of the top five, in order, includes New Zealand, Hong Kong, Denmark and Sweden.
Forbes makes the list by grading 11 different factors: property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance.
Ireland scored well across the board for business friendliness and very near the top for low tax burden, investor protection and personal freedom.
Forbes said that despite Ireland's recent economic problems, it remained a pro business country that continued to attract investments from some of the world's biggest companies over the last ten years.
The ranking will provide a boost for Ireland as it prepares to exit the bailout programme at the end of the year.

There's some more good news for the country,it makes a welcome change.

keithclancy

Red Tape ... One thing I like about Ireland (The lack of it)

Or that you can use a bus pass as ID :P

Germany is a frikkin nightmare, nothing is easy.

Captain Farrell

Moved my business to Ireland in 1998 and haven't looked back since. OK, had to lay off a few people in the last few years to balance the books, but the low corporation tax makes staying here a must, financially.

Fr_Dougal

Good job, Bono...good job...

Balmed Out

Id say we do well on investor protection alright

Cookie_Monster

Forbes makes the list by grading 11 different factors: property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance.

that's a pretty narrow view... What about labour costs and availability, power and infrastructure or availability of materials?
There are very good reasons why companies choose India / Thailand / China etc over Ireland or the other countries in the top 5 for production and CS.

Wibbs

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

that's a pretty narrow view... What about labour costs and availability, power and infrastructure or availability of materials?
There are very good reasons why companies choose India / Thailand / China etc over Ireland or the other countries in the top 5 for production and CS.

Yes it would certainly depend on the type of business involved. With hard core manufacturing added into the mix we'd be waaaay down the list. Still it's a good bit of PR for the country so I ain't gonna knock it.

smcgiff

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

that's a pretty narrow view... What about labour costs and availability, power and infrastructure or availability of materials?
There are very good reasons why companies choose India / Thailand / China etc over Ireland or the other countries in the top 5 for production and CS.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!

Phoebas

A whole page without somebody completely rubbishing this report as an act of propaganda put out by our oppressors. Amazing.

SEPT 23 1989

Great for big business where you can dictate terms with the State different story for small and micro businesses

force eleven

Brussels and Berlin won't like it. Expect more pressure on the Corpo tax.

justforlaugh

will that mean big business from London will head to Ireland

Duggy747

I dunno about that article, my pumpkin shop had poor sales all through November to September with the end of October being notably busy, for some odd reason.

I was expecting sales to peak right about January.

wretcheddomain

justforlaugh wrote: »

will that mean big business from London will head to Ireland

Rumour has it Alan Sugar is filming the new series of The Apprentice over here in a cost-cutting measure...

kupus

Can I just add that is for BIG BUSINESS only....

Ask any small medium business in Ireland and see what they think

old_aussie

Good for big business, what's in it for the man on the street?

kupus

Ah I see Sept 89 covered it already!!

Its great that Ireland is bring in corporations to boost itself....but and there is a but....
I dont like the way Ireland is just creating workers and a workers syndrome.

What I mean is there is no real entrepreneurial mindset in Ireland. This needs to be addressed. Too much emphasis is put on learning books inside out jsut to get to a college that some people just do not want to go. I remember I went looking for help when I was a kid about 18 and could find nothing to help me start a business. And the places I went to get help they couldnt even point to me any place I could get help. In fact they laughed me out of it and said youre too young to be at anything like that. Thats not too long ago folks.

It can be taught. Its a life skill that can be useful. Ive made more mistakes than many and still dont have a pot to piss in but that doesnt stop me from trying.
Which is why I admire the US mentality of yes we can.....

Chinese have that mentality also from being the biggest trading country in the world ever. spanning centuries. However they are more ruthless than genghis khan when it comes to business!!

What Im saying is it can be taught but not the way business is taught in the leaving cert books. You cannot learn it in books but experience alone and if you get the bug, then the world is yours.

TheBody

old_aussie wrote: »

Good for big business, what's in it for the man on the street?

A job in the company.

BillyMitchel

Captain Farrell wrote: »

Moved my business to Ireland in 1998 and haven't looked back since. OK, had to lay off a few people in the last few years to balance the books, but the low corporation tax makes staying here a must, financially.

Where did you move from, Somalia?!!

Mint Aero

FF destroys the country. FG Ireland gets named the best country in the world for business.
Epic Enda must be the greatest leader in the free world.

kupus

All smoke and mirrors.......this guy can explain it better and quicker than I ever could.....
THe rest of the article is worth a read for anyone interested.

http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1026951.shtml

Forbes magazine has selected Ireland as the best place in the world to do business and it certainly is for US business beyond the United States with the lowest taxes outside of tax havens with sandy beaches, fringed by arching palms. But it's surely strange that Irish business has had such limited success in this paradise over the past half century.

Through boom and bust, there can be little doubt that there is a market for fairytales in Ireland and overseas the distorting impact of the dominant foreign-owned sector on Irish data means that in both Europe and the US and presumably elsewhere, it's rare to find a commentator who has a knowledge of the economy based on the unvarnished facts.

As in the boom when fools believed that Ireland had found a philosopher's stone that would transmute property transactions into a permanent prosperity, rare rankings of Ireland as a miracle place are lapped up by official Ireland including the mainstream media.

Last year the European Commission selected Ireland among four top European countries for innovation; the top R&D spenders are American companies that have headquarters in Ireland but do little if any research and development in Ireland............
......http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1026951.shtml

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

i don't think this made the print edition of forbes though, it was just a random article on the website

little blogspam to explain it. am i wrong? or does it not matter if it's not in the print?

http://www.georgiecasey.com/2013/12/05/forbes-announce-ireland-as-best-country-for-business-but-it-didnt-make-the-print-magazine/

BuilderPlumber

It often does not feel like it, but Ireland actually is in the better quarter of world countries overall. Like other similar countries like the UK, France, Germany, Austria or Czech Republic, Ireland most certainly is not perfect (no county is) but it is about as perfect as one can get in the world.

The bad about Ireland has been talked about to death. Corrupt self serving politicians, abuse of schemes like JobBridge, unemployment, inflation, crime, negativity, overpaid elites, et al. And yes these exist and it is true that we need to fight for a better country but take a look at other places (and remember all the problems we have in Ireland are there in addition to the problems mentioned below). Here we go comparing Ireland to:

Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Central African Republic, Israel/Palestine: We can move from town to town and from county to county and most likely live to tell the tale unless you get killed in a traffic accident or die suddenly. No threat of suicide bombers in Dublin, Cork or Limerick. You are not going to hit upon a warzone in Longford, Leitrim or Cavan. You are not going to be take hostage in Kerry, Wexford or Kildare. In the above mentioned countries, one could end up dead, left for dead, kidnapped or imprisoned for no reason often.

North Korea: bitter and violent disputes that lead to the gunning down of rivals and potential rivals in Ireland is reserved for Love/Hate and the real world crime gangs it was inspired by. You are not likely to see Michael D come out and have Enda shot!! Or vice versa! Even de Valera did not do it to Cosgrave and they hated each other! Also, we are open for business and people can move in and out of here we ease. We have poverty but we do not have starving masses like the Kims rule over and deliberately keep this way.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Afghanistan: sure, we had a time in our history when the likes of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid dominated our governments' policies but even then, religious freedom was granted and the Catholic church never mutated into a Talibanistic force akin to what we see all over the Middle East today. So-called 'religion' in the Middle East is a very damaging, negative force that kills off major industries such as the wine industry and tourism. What passes for religion in many Middle Eastern countries is an insult to the term and an insult to both god and man (The Taliban and similar are to Islam what the Khmer Rouge and North Korea are to socialism). Ireland arguably is now at the other end of the spectrum as a very atheistic society but we are not worshipping the likes of Kim Jong Il and Un as Kim Il Sung thankfully!! We have no so-called 'religious' laws restricting any lines of business in Ireland. But, we need to keep healthocracy in check (this is the Western version of Talibanism).

Most of Africa: Ireland is pretty much together as a country. Whether we are from Donegal, Wexford, Leitrim, Cork, Galway, Dublin or Kilkenny, we are all the one people. We are rivals in GAA and in rugby but that's it! In Africa, most countries are a hodge podge of former colonial lands that amalgamated rival tribes. Of course, this has lead to both war and political repression of one tribe by another. Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Sudan, Chad, Zimbabwe and the Congo are all examples. Central African Republic is the most wellknown current example. Thank god for the GAA and hurleys rather than guns!

In all the above countries mentioned, either there are laws blocking business, they are isolated by the regimes, their regimes stifle any dissent, or there is war and violence.

Imagine if a voodoo regime told all our shops not to sell wine and beer, shut down our pubs and stole all existing booze (and like the hypocrites they are, then got drunk on it themselves in their own secret bars)? Ask that drunk Ayatollah Khomeini and he'd have known all about it. Ask the current drunken Saudi royals and they'd know too. Ask Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stop drinking before he used to deliver his stupid remarks and he'd know all about it too! Ask Ali Khamenei and he'd probably prefer heroin! The Taliban too! Imagine voodoo cult regimes do all this and eliminate 90% of their countries' business and make unnecessary enemies.

Imagine walking to work knowing that a suicide bomber was more likely than unlikely. Imagine getting into your car and wondering is there a bomb under it. Imagine working in an office block fearing a drugged up terrorist brainwashed into believing he will survive and go to heaven flies a plane directly into it deliberately. Imagine having to live under a regime that deliberately bombs and shoots its own people.

Imagine living in squalor with no running water and no electricity. Imagine people dying of curable diseases and of starvation. Imagine the likes of Omar al Bashir of Sudan and the Kims swanning around in luxury while his people starve or die as a result of wars.

Imagine women being treated like second class citizens by stone age voodoos, imagine one tribe hunting down a rival tribe for food. Imagine apartheid (still alive and well and practiced by many regimes when they want to keep an ethnic minority within their lands down: be they Palestinians, African tribes or women living under Talibanistic voodoo regimes).

Imagine, imagine, imagine ... and dear old Ireland suddenly looks a very good place to be. We should be thankful for our blessings and that we have more power to change things here. However, we are right to complain about issues but it is good that we have that right to do so and not end up in prison or dead. In Pyongyang or Khartoum, I don't think even the slightest of protest would be tolerated and one would be very lucky to receive the light sentence of about 10 years in prison!