Free market economy waits for the lights to go out

ARTICLE 45 of our constitution states that “the operation of free competition shall not be allowed so to develop as to result in the concentration of the ownership or control of essential commodities in a few individuals to the common detriment”.

It is interesting therefore to reflect that, as an island nation, our Governments has allowed the demise of Irish Shipping and the privatisation of Aer Lingus — so the cost of importing and exporting is in private hands.

In an emergency, our elected representatives would have to go cap in hand to Michael O’Leary of Ryanair and give him as much of our money as he wanted. While the nation’s health must be viewed as essential, Mary Harney is engaged in privatising as much of it as she can before she loses her job.

Our banks are in private hands and their essential importance was seen recently when the Government bailed them out with the public purse.

But the really big one is energy for heating, lighting, cooking and almost any activity you can think of. In the US, they deregulated the supply of electricity into private hands. I was in Los Angeles when Enron turned the lights off. They created a shortage by routing the electricity supply away from California and then announced an emergency. The cost of electricity went up 800% before supply returned to normal.

Surely such a thing could never happen here? Actually, it could. Already the Government has sold off 20% of the ESB’s generating capacity to a private Spanish company. You may have missed it in the news due to the banking crisis and the Lisbon Treaty, but one-fifth of the control of our electricity supply went away recently in the great Irish carboot sale.

Our lords and masters may even be considering selling off the lot for all we know. One thing is for sure, the first time most of us will wake up to this is when we get an electricity bill for €4,000 and it will be too late then.

Up to the end of the 1980s, the accepted wisdom was that anything run publicly was better for us than something run commercially. At the start of the ‘90s, this wisdom reversed. There was never any obvious or overwhelming reason for either stand. The mantra today is competition, but there is another dimension. As citizens in a society we all have basic needs (such as reasonably priced electricity). As consumers in an economy, the decking or kitchen extension we might want will be paid for at the going rate if we have the money.

It is this distinction between needs and wants that our economy-driven Government ignores.

According to Fr Peter McVerry, 20% of people in Ireland today are trying to live on €200 a week. More than 70% of Irish people are struggling to get by on €38,000 a year (or €780 a week).

In the coming months, these are the people who will discover that their wants are a thing of the past but, worse than that, their needs will not be able to be met by a reckless Government which has sold their birthright to the lowest bidder. So much for our democracy and the constitution.

John Mallon

Shamrock Lawn

Mayfield

Cork