The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report has placed Ireland at 25 in the world, the country's best ranking series since 2009, and up three places from last year.

The European Commission has today announced a further step in legal proceedings against Ireland by delivering a formal request to take urgent and concerted action to protect Ireland’s peat bogs. The reasoned opinion specifically addresses continued mechanical peat extraction on protected peat bogs, which Ireland gave assurances to the European authorities would cease in 1999. The need for environmental impact assessment of potentially damaging activities in peat bogs is also addressed. This was the subject of an EU court of Justice ruling in 1999.