Missing the big picture

THE Government in New Zealand undertook quite a bit of privatisation a few years ago. But recently they had to reverse most of this by buying back vital infrastructure and services from the private sector at enormous expense to the taxpayer.

They have also had to invest a lot of money to develop the facilities to a reasonable standard after the neglect and profit-taking of private companies.

The electric companies reduced generating capacity to the bare minimum and laid off large numbers of maintenance staff resulting in frequent blackouts. Transport companies cherry-picked routes so some areas had no public transport and one telecommunications company went out of business leaving a sizeable segment of the population without a telephone service.

Eircom is an excellent example of the damage that can result from missing the big picture when pursuing short-term economic and political policies.

John McCarthy

Kilworth

Co Cork