Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There were a couple of questions from Senator Mooney which he also raised on Second Stage. They were on the nature of state aid, social services and economic contracts. The Commission does not specifically define what is meant by the term "social services of general interest". However, it has described such services as economic activities which deliver outcomes in the overall public good which would not be supplied by the market without public intervention or would be supplied under different conditions such as quality or affordability. One can look at this either way from the point of view of a public or private service with which to compete.