Privatisation: the Irish context

Abstract

The issue of privatisation and the related themes of this symposium - liberalisation, competition and regulation - are part of a broader discussion on the kind of economic system and indeed the kind of society we wish to construct in Ireland. This discussion in turn takes place in the context of a broader global debate on evolving economic systems, a debate that has been accelerated by enormous change in Eastern Europe and by the emergence of China as a market economy but which nevertheless is far from finalised. Over the last ten years a strong strand of argument has developed that a single system of economic organisation, namely a particular model of market capitalism is now in effect the main paradigm of a global economy.