Sir, – Simon O’Connor’s concern about the future of our public services (August 11th) is well-founded. Public services are like the spinal column of a country – inconspicuous, but providing the essential underlying structure that allows everything else to function. The provision of vital services such as healthcare, education, transport, telecommunications, waste disposal and basic utilities by the State creates an enduring framework of stability and social inclusion that helps counter inequality, reduces social divisions and supports individual access to opportunity. The privatisation of public services will inevitably erode social cohesion by penalising those who can’t afford to pay, exacerbating disadvantage and storing up further problems for the future.
An insidious power shift is happening below the radar: as service delivery decisions are determined by “market forces”, the economic, political and ideological influence of the financial sector has been steadily increasing. For example, with privatisation, management salaries inflate rapidly while demands for “productivity” and “efficiency” mean that frontline workers are subject to salary cuts and poorer working conditions. Private companies assume no responsibility for citizens who cannot pay, or for those whose location, age or health make it “unprofitable” (in purely financial terms) for the service to be provided.
Many privatisation decisions abroad have been reversed, due to poor quality of services, lack of value for money and the degrading of working conditions for staff. On average, US federal governments contract back in four services for every six they contract out. In the UK, services that have reverted to being sourced in-house by local authorities include housing management, information and computer technology services and recycling. We should look carefully at international experience before we commit to undermining the social fabric of society by dismantling our public services. Yours, etc,
MAEVE HALPIN,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6