Misinformation should not be allowed to inform debate about banking competitiveness, Pat Farrell said yesterday.

Mr Farrell, chief executive officer of the Irish Bankers' Federation, was speaking at the closing session of the Dublin Economic Workshop annual economic policy conference in Kenmare.

He told delegates that Ireland's banking sector was more internationally competitive than suggested by a recent Competition Authority report.

"The personal account switching rate in the UK is 1 per cent per year, substantially lower than the 3 per cent claimed by the authority.

The switching rate is 0.5 per cent and rising after only six months. This is higher than the Netherlands and in line to match the UK's rate over the next 12 months", said Mr Farrell.

Mr Farrell also said that average lending rates to business had fallen in the last two years, in spite of no change in European Central Bank rates occurring in that period.

But speaking on behalf of the Competition Authority, David O'Connell said that information bottlenecks were preventing consumers from comparing value for money and hindering competitors from entering the market.

"Potential market entrants need to be provided with the information they need to enter the market on terms which are as favourable as possible in comparison to incumbents," said Mr O'Connell.

Meanwhile during another session at the conference, economists disagreed over the emphasis being put on debt relief as part of overall Third World aid strategy.

Lecturer and economic journalist Constantin Gurgdiev said that the focus on debt relief reflected a simplistic understanding of the Third World's problems.

"Some serious and honest researchers have fallen over time into the trap of a prêt-a-porter explanation for the world's ills. The ease with which this explanation lends itself to policy solutions does additional damage to real analysis," said Mr Gurgdiev.

But Mary O'Donnell of the University of Limerick said that debt relief was preferable to other forms of aid because of the burden placed by debt servicing on taxpayers and investors in Third World countries. Ms O'Donnell cited several empirical studies that found a link between high debt levels in poor countries and underinvestment.

Ms O'Donnell said that additional relief would not be enough on its own to improve growth and development in the poorest countries. Mr Gurgdiev said that institutional reforms were needed in poor countries if the investment conditions needed for growth were to materialise.

Economist Colm McCarthy of DKM consultants said that claims about the length of commuting times was being exaggerated by the media.

"A recent TV programme on Dublin traffic included a film report on the daily tribulations of a long-distance car commuter from Co Meath into the city, who asserted that the each-way commute was taking 90 minutes and longer. It is important to understand that the programme's producers have gone to some considerable trouble to locate this individual. Such individuals exist, but they are not typical", he said