The Tánaiste has established a strategy group to undertake a sweeping review of the Republic's enterprise and employment policy.
At the launch of the Enterprise Strategy Group yesterday, Ms Harney urged the body to be "radical" in its approach. She charged its members with developing a strategy to strengthen Irish competitiveness and promote a knowledge-driven economy.
The body, which will have six to nine months to complete its task, will also consider how best to sustain Irish employment and to encourage business start-ups.
It will decide on the optimum balance between business sectors, foreign and domestic business ownership, and types of economic activity. Regional balance will also be considered.
Ms Harney insisted that the group had not been established in direct response to recent job losses, saying she had brought proposals on the matter to cabinet "some time ago".
The group will be chaired by Mr Eoin O'Driscoll, former managing director of the Irish operations of Lucent Technologies and current managing director of consulting firm Aderra.
Mr O'Driscoll will be joined by representatives of indigenous and foreign-owned firms, venture capitalists, academics and union representatives. State agency Forfás will act as secretariat to the group. Ms Harney rejected suggestions that the Enterprise Strategy Group could overlap on existing Government initiatives to address the Republic's competitiveness by highlighting the independence of the group's membership. She said this would allow them to "stand back from the system and take a more aggressive and objective review".
"I certainly hope the report will be radical," she said, calling for a "warts and all" review.
The initiative has drawn harsh criticism from opposition parties, however, with Fine Gael accusing the Government of being "always one review group away from action" and Labour warning that the Government's record of "sheer indolence" did not bode well for the new group's success.
In contrast, the Green Party welcomed the initiative and said it planned to make a submission that would outline its enterprise policies.
The Enterprise Strategy Group has been asked to address the dual challenges of sustaining and building on economic success and meeting the future economic expectations of Irish people.
Ms Harney said economic success could no longer be based in manufacturing but must have its roots in design and innovation.
"We will not guarantee our future by looking to the past: we will not move forward by standing still," she said, noting that the last Government-driven review of industrial policy came 11 years ago with the Culliton Report. "Eleven years on, things are different," she said, adding that the Government would nonetheless retain the successful elements of its existing industrial policy, such as low corporation tax. She acknowledged that the State's tax system could come up for review by the new group, which could, she suggested, take account of taxation initiatives in other countries aimed at encouraging research and development.
Ms Harney said the group would focus on overall industrial strategy rather than individual development agencies such as the IDA or Enterprise Ireland but acknowledged that such reviews "can and should happen separately".
Enterprising job: chairman of the board
Mr Eoin O'Driscoll has been managing director of consulting firm Aderra since the middle of last year, when he departed the top position at the Irish operations of Lucent Technologies. He sits on the board of a number of Irish companies, including Dublin laser optics company, Tsunami Photonics.
Mr O'Driscoll is also a member of the industry advisory board of IT research institute, the National Microelectronics Research Centre, and is a director of the National Microelectronics Application Centre.
He is a board member of the Cork University Foundation.
