A vote for privatisation

If Telecom or ESB had been privatised from day 1, rural Ireland would still be in the dark! You can see that from the way broadband has being rolled out.
We also have 1 of the highest electricity charges in the EU

Health care- lots more choice alright but prices are rising by double digit %'s most years.
 
Delboy said:
If Telecom or ESB had been privatised from day 1, rural Ireland would still be in the dark! You can see that from the way broadband has being rolled out.
We also have 1 of the highest electricity charges in the EU
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I actually agree with you and am not saying that private operators be the only ones providing transport. CIE and Dublin Bus etc should remain but operate within a competitive market. Glad you mentioned broadband too as it's interesting to see Eir cherry pick the rural areas at this very moment themselves at the expense of other, more isolated rural areas (making the provision to these remaining areas even more expensive as a result). The irony is that Telecom Eireann back in the day were probably the ones against opening up the market to protect these rural areas!!

Delboy said:
Health care- lots more choice alright but prices are rising by double digit %'s most years.
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Can you imagine how high the prices would be if the VHI were the only provider?
 
Delboy said:
If Telecom or ESB had been privatised from day 1, rural Ireland would still be in the dark! You can see that from the way broadband has being rolled out.
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Nonsense. The state just specified what companies have to do and they then tender for the job.
 
Delboy said:
If Telecom or ESB had been privatised from day 1, rural Ireland would still be in the dark! You can see that from the way broadband has being rolled out.
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How so? Most of the private companies are just resellers of Eir's services, paying Eir wholesale rates and then selling them on at retail. Hookinh up or upgrading subscriber lines remains Eir's responsibility, so nothing has changed there. Major national infrastructure projects remain dependent on separate government funding. Rural high-speed broadband isn't as simple as rolling out copper to every house in the country no matter how far from the exchange.


Delboy said:
We also have 1 of the highest electricity charges in the EU
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I think it's surprising we're not the most expensive given our population density and our rates of pay for electricity workers.

Delboy said:
Health care- lots more choice alright but prices are rising by double digit %'s most years.
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You need to correlate that % increase with the increases in input charges the healthcare providers are paying to make any case there. The likes of bed-redesignation has led to massive cost increases to the insurance industry. Sit on a chair or a trolley for the night, your insurer is hit for €3-400.
 

Yep but the insurance companies need to take a lot of the blame for this. In the majority of cases, they will just pay whatever they are told without questioning anything. I have seen claims where the insurance company was charged over a €100 for 4 panadol. And it was up to the customer to query this.

Last week, I had a relative who had a choice to be treated as in patient or as an out patient in an addiction facility. The in patient course was 5 weeks residential and the out patient treatment was spread over 10 weeks. The cost was €11,500 and €3500 respectively. The person was assessed and told that they were suitable for the out patient course. They contacted the insurance company who said that they only cover the in patient expense. My relative didn't have €3500 so they did the residential course at a cost of €11,500 which was fully covered by the insurance company. It is this type of bureaucratic rubbish in the entire health industry that is driving up prices and inefficiencies.
 
Purple said:
The state would have to subsidise it. The state should regulate and fund services. It should not provide them directly.
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Of course....so when is a Private company, not a Private company!

Firefly said:
But you're assuming it's loss making as the current provider is losing money.
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A fairly safe assumption to make about rolling out broadband to most of rural Ireland's houses I would think
 
Firefly said:
But do we really know that? Maybe it's just that the incumbent operators, getting an annual dig-out from the taxpayers, are just not upto the job?
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Indeed, and maybe that is the case. However, that's why I asked the question: is there an example anywhere in the world of a privatised public transport system that is perceived to work well (from the customers point of view, that is!)?
 
newtothis said:
Indeed, and maybe that is the case. However, that's why I asked the question: is there an example anywhere in the world of a privatised public transport system that is perceived to work well (from the customers point of view, that is!)?
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The airlines. I remember back in the 90s and pre Ryanair when I was an emigrant, I'd return to London after Christmas and would be back down the travel agent first weekend in Jan putting a deposit on a flight for the following Christmas with a state owned airline who had a monopoly. It could be a couple of hundred quid, probably the price of a transatlantic flight nowadays. Then Ryanair came along and the rest is history.
 
newtothis said:
Indeed, and maybe that is the case. However, that's why I asked the question: is there an example anywhere in the world of a privatised public transport system that is perceived to work well (from the customers point of view, that is!)?
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Hi,

I like what Singapore is doing

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapo...ctor-shift-from-privatised-to-contracts-model

Again, this is not total privatisation (which I am not advocating for) but a system whereby the incumbent faces competition in the service delivery with the state owning the infrastructure as per our energy sector, private healthcare sector, telecoms sector etc.
 
Good and bad. #

Good = Ryanair shook up things.
Bad = We sold our Banks ACC/ICC = we got screwed.
.............................
I think comment that Mr Citizen keeps nuff of important businesses is good , it slows the animal instincts of the Market.
 
Gerry Canning said:
Good and bad. #

Good = Ryanair shook up things.
Bad = We sold our Banks ACC/ICC = we got screwed.
.............................
I think comment that Mr Citizen keeps nuff of important businesses is good , it slows the animal instincts of the Market.
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So the state did a bad job of selling our Banks; the State is bad at doing things.
 
Purple = At that time it was thought as progressive and private knows best, they ie private self evidently didn,t know best.With hindsight State should most times hold what they have.

That said I don,t see we should privatize most things , had AIB been in State hands after their first bail-out in Garret Fifzgeralds time , we might not have seen our State messing up on the way State handled bail out.

(the State is bad at doing things) roads/health/education/welfare/housing etc etc, in spite of all those twits in Dial I shudder to think what Mr Private would do to us ?
 
Gerry Canning said:
(the State is bad at doing things) roads/health/education/welfare/housing etc etc, in spite of all those twits in Dial I shudder to think what Mr Private would do to us ?
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The state contracts private companies to build roads with considerable success. The same should be the case with housing. The same should be the case with the provision of most health services, just as it is with all primary care (GP's, Pharmacies etc).
The state should regulate and fund services but not run them.
The private sector provides food and fuel infrastructure. I don't think the market does a bad job there.
 
Purple,
Like your thinking .

Agree that State should farm out and regulate properly ,
I suppose the rub is (properly) eg Banks
 
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