Cork, Ireland - Ireland's public transport system has improved significantly in recent years, according to locals. But still, there is much to do.

"We need more frequent busses," says Martin Neuin, a restaurant manager in the city of Cork on the country's south coast.

The 30-kilometre journey by bus from his workplace to Bandon in West Cork, where he lives, takes nearly an hour, the
20-year-old says. "I finish work at 4 pm and I am home at 6 pm."

Ireland's infrastructure problems are not confined to the public transport sector.

In its latest economic survey of Ireland, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warns of "infrastructure bottlenecks" that could weaken further economic growth in Ireland.

"These bottlenecks can have direct economic consequences, especially since foreign investors put a high weight on the quality of infrastructure when deciding where to locate. They can also have environmental and social consequences, such as pollution and long commuting times," the OECD said.

Ireland is acutely aware of the shortcomings of its infrastructure.

"We're spending 34 billion euros (53 billion dollars) developing a world-class transport system," huge billboards promoting "Transport 21," the national investment framework for 2006-2015, announce in cities such as Cork.

With Ireland ranked 25th within the OECD in terms of infrastructure, the need for action is seen as imperative. The OECD recommends that Ireland liberalize its bus services to increase private investment.

"After work, you want to get home, and then you have to wait 45 minutes because the bus is so late," Soeren Eickhoff, a 21-year-old German who works at a call centre in Cork, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

"Within 10 working days, the bus comes late eight times."

Experts recommend more competition in the transport and other, so far public and semi-public sectors and network industries.

The OECD advises to separate the electricity transmission grid from power plants and reduce the state-ownership of postal, energy, transport, health insurance, television and forestry industries.

Low corporate taxes and a skilled workforce have been major factors in the emergence of Ireland's rapidly growing Celtic Tiger economy since the early 1990s. Employment rose from 1.1 million jobs to 1.9 million between 1990 and 2005.

Ireland's southeast is one of Europe's richest regions today, according to Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency. And Ireland continues to compete for inward investments.

Britain's Shire Pharmaceuticals group recently announced it would relocate its parent company to Dublin to benefit from low corporate taxes of just 12.5 per cent and other incentives. The firm has sales close to 1.27 billion euros, the Irish Times newspaper reported.

Global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is building a new 190-million- euro facility that will create about 100 jobs in Ringaskiddy near Cork, Ireland's second biggest city. Pfizer currently employs 2,300 people in Ireland.

But there has been bad news for the Irish economy, too: Computer giant Dell recently announced it will cut 250 jobs in Ireland, where the company has 4,500 employees and accounts for close to 6 per cent of gross national product (GNP), according to reports.

In recent years, domestic demand rather than foreign investment has been the driving force behind Ireland's fast growth rate. This trend is now slowing.

"In particular, the housing market has cooled," the OECD noted.

As growth has slowed, testing the resilience of the economy, "raising productivity growth is the key long-term challenge," the OECD said.

Beside increasing competition in network industries, the organization wants Ireland to raise its education standards further. Especially the spending on research and development has been relatively low, it says.

Wages and prices should increase at a more moderate pace at least in the short term, taxation on housing needs to be reformed, and the country should keep public spending in check, the organization says.

The OECD also said the country should integrate immigrants better, raise the participation rates of women in the work force and put in place a long-term framework for an ageing population.

Newly-elected Prime Minister Brian Cowen appears aware that the low productivity in the service sector must be increased to maintain economic growth in the long term.

If public services don't meet the expectations of the people, he may "reconstruct the public service delivery model," the former finance minister has warned. (dpa)