Index Commentary

Ireland increases by nine places in the Index, due to an increase in energy security. The improvements were driven by a substantial increase in the wholesale margin on gasoline and a reduction in energy consumption, which reverses last year’s positive growth rate. Ireland now scores comparatively well in these two indicators, but still lags behind in oil stock reserves and in diversity of electricity production. Moreover, it has a very low ratio of production to total energy supply. Performance in social equity remains stable. A small decrease in environmental impact mitigation is driven by higher energy intensity per GDP per capita and by a decrease in the quality of air and water. Ireland’s performance in the contextual dimensions is fairly constant; however a drop in economic strength is driven by further decreases in macroeconomic stability, the countries weakest contextual indicator.