Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)

The research to which I referred in the question was an EU funded project entitled Privatisation of Public Services and the Impact on Quality, Employment and Productivity. It examined the impact of privatisation and liberalisation of public services in five European countries, namely, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Sweden and the UK. Case studies across six different sectors found that following liberalisation and privatisation the main company objective, that is the reduction of production costs, was achieved primarily at the cost of workers mainly through the worsening of working conditions. The report states, "The balance of evidence suggests that liberalisation and privatisation have been primarily associated with employment reductions rather than with employment creation and that, at the same time, employment within the target sectors has become increasingly part-time, often having greater recourse than when they were publicly delivered services to self-employed, and perhaps also temporary, workers".

The project concurs with many others in its findings that positive effects and better performance are mostly the result of superior regulation rather than of competition or private corporate initiative. Liberalisation and privatisation of public services have largely negative effects on employment and working conditions and varied effects on productivity and service quality. I am not sure whether the Government has conducted a cost benefit analysis on how this will work out. Will it really create extra quality jobs?

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