Analysis: Rarely does a Government-appointed think tank produce a document that has had one of its recommendations implemented before it is even published

The report of the Enterprise Strategy Group is the exception in that its recommendation that a chief scientist be appointed has already been confirmed. Dr Barry McSweeney will take up this vital position next October.

It would be a mistake, however, to judge the effectiveness of Eoin O'Driscoll's group by counting how many of the remaining 50 recommendations are implemented over the coming months and years.

I am sure the 16 members of the Group would drop many of their recommendations if the two specific proposals that would place the enterprise agenda at the heart of the political process were implemented.

Firstly, the call for a twice-yearly Cabinet meeting dedicated to enterprise is critical. The related recommendation - that the Cabinet meetings should be supported by an expert group on enterprise consisting of the secretaries-general from six Government departments and four senior figures from the enterprise sector - is also crucial. These proposals will be the acid test for Government and will be the barometer of its resolve and commitment to the plan.

Ireland has changed dramatically since the last review of enterprise policy in 1992. In the intervening period:

· The population has grown by 400,000 to 3.9 million;

· The number of people in work has grown by 600,000 to 1.8 million;

· The value of annual exports has increased by almost 300 per cent, from €28.5 billion to €109.3 billion;

· Irish GNP per capita as a percentage of the EU-15 average has increased from 69 per cent to 125 per cent.

Why then had we a need for a review of enterprise policy?

Our economy is shaped by the skills and knowledge of people and by the effectiveness with which the country's economic affairs are managed. The work of the Enterprise Strategy Group, therefore, is critical. It was crucial, for instance, that the group recognised at the outset that the current environment, if left unchanged, would not achieve cutting-edge economic status for Ireland.

A thriving and successful enterprise sector is crucial to the attainment of national economic and social objectives. We need to be conscious that the determinants of economic success are different to those that operated in the past.

At the same time, the basic economic objectives of society remain the same: the achievement of improving living standards for all of the people of Ireland and their full participation in the economic life of the country. Success in meeting these objectives will require the exercise of choices on the part of individuals, business and government.

We cannot become complacent about the economic progress of the past 10 years. This is why the report of the Enterprise Strategy Group is so important in maintaining the momentum that strives to make Ireland a world class economic success story.

If the findings of the Enterprise Strategy Group are to be meaningful, we need to develop new and clear thinking in relation to enterprise policy. We need more radical approaches to generate a new set of criteria and objectives that sets Ireland apart and achieves a world class business environment.

The group makes it clear that current thinking and policy have not - and will not - achieve this advance, and this needs to be acknowledged from the outset.

What is at issue is not the different views that will undoubtedly arise on some of the group's recommendations. (Do we need a national carbon tax? Is a 90 per cent Leaving Certificate completion level attainable? Can we invest in infrastructure ahead of demand?)

What is at stake is our economic future and the commitment of Government and others to the enterprise agenda.

Eoin O'Driscoll and his colleagues have given us a clear sense of direction, bringing to their task a profound understanding of the enterprise sector, for which we should all be grateful.

We now need action, however, because if we do not act on the group's findings, the Irish economy will sink into a backwater. On the other hand, if we take decisive action now, Ireland will establish itself as an economic and social success story, not just for today or tomorrow, but right into the foreseeable future.

Brendan Butler is Director of Enterprise in the business and employers organisation IBEC.