OECD calls for shake-up in Irish competition rules

Ireland needs large-scale changes in its domestic competition policy in order manage the effects of its recent rapid economic…

Ireland needs large-scale changes in its domestic competition policy in order manage the effects of its recent rapid economic growth, a report published by the OECD said today.

The report by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said competition policy had been a key weakness undermining Ireland's move to sustainable market based growth.

"Although there had been some progress in the 1990s," the report said, "market reforms of utilities and infrastructure services still do not consistently apply competition principles."

"The coming cycle in Irish economic development justifies a more coherent and determined approach to regulatory reform than seen to date," the report concluded.

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Among its recommendations were removal of anti-competitive licensing constraints, the elimination of special interest rules that inhibit competition, and the expansion of competition in public service provision at local authority level.

The report said bottlenecks in physical infrastructure such as housing, transport, and environmental services were fuelling inflation and constraining future growth.

The OECD report acknowledged that Ireland had already made good progress on regulatory reform, particularly in the areas of telecommunications, transport, and trade liberalisation.