Looked at in isolation, yesterday's announcement by multinational drugs giant Pfizer may not seem too worrying. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment tried to put the loss of 65 jobs in the company's Ringaskiddy plant, along with a further 500 possible job losses in Little Island and Loughbeg, in context: Pfizer will shed 10,000 jobs worldwide after the US Food and Drug Administration refused to sanction its latest anti cholesterol drug.
But yesterday's announcement is not a once-off. It is the latest in a series of body blows delivered to the manufacturing sector - many of them on the Minister's own Cork doorstep. News of massive job losses at the Motorola plant last week came barely a month after the announcement of job losses at FCI's plant in Fermoy. These events show that the Irish manufacturing sector is defying a script written for it by the Government: that job losses at firms like these are not supposed to be happening. As the Minister put it at the launch of the Annual Competitiveness Report on Wednesday, Ireland remains "up for manufacturing". But the nature of manufacturing in Ireland is changing. As the Irish Sugar Company and Dairygold shed jobs, firms like Pfizer, Motorola and FCI are supposed to create them.
It should surprise no-one that things are not going to plan. For almost a year now, representatives of multinational companies have been voicing concern. Last summer the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland warned that a growing number of its members were finding it difficult to cope with the extraordinarily high cost of doing business here. Last month the head of Microsoft Ireland warned that Ireland's low corporation tax was now the only remaining advantage for multinationals operating in Ireland and that even this was being offset by rising wage costs. Politely - far too politely perhaps - the National Competitiveness Council warned about the high cost of doing business in Ireland. It called for a reform of the system of land planning, better transport and better spatial planning in order that the huge cost of accommodation and the burden it places on workers and employers might be tackled.
But as with so many issues, the Government has done little or nothing in these areas. The National Development Plan may help in the future but, if badly implemented, it could do the opposite. Neither can the Government undo the damage that its reckless policy of ramping up economic activity and spending before elections has had on inflation and competitiveness.
In one area at least, however, it has scope to respond before the election. Echoing a finding of the Annual Competitiveness Report, the Irish Exporters Association warned how a lack of competition in the Irish electricity market is undermining the economy's traded sector. In this regard, an expected White Paper on energy will be the Government's last opportunity to redeem its deteriorating record in relation to competitiveness.