The Department of Trade and Industry launched the ninth iteration of the Industrial Policy Action Plan (Ipap) this week, reflecting on the attention paid to the programme and the government hopes vested in the industrial sector. But is it working? The short answer sadly is not really. The department has put forward a long list of projects that it has facilitated and there is no doubt the government has invested valuable effort in the sector. Relations with organised business are not without their bumps but are generally good. The number of iterations of Ipap suggest real commitment and consistency by the department. But the hard numbers tell a different story. Since the low point in the recession of 2008, manufacturing has cumulatively risen in real terms by about 15%. That is growth of a little more than 1.7 percentage points a year. It is better than the economy as a whole, so clearly something is working. But in the same period, the services sector grew cumulatively 29%, accordin...
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