Privatisation

Abstract

The policy of austerity followed by Ireland and Europe over the last several years has received a fair degree of scholarly attention. However, the parallel strategy of privatisation as a response to the economic turbulence in peripheral countries has been neglected. Yet, within the context of neoliberalism and austerity, the conditionality contained in European Union-International Monetary Fund (EU-IMF) bailout agreements and national governments’ own plans have given impetus to an unfolding wave of privatisation in Europe. This chapter examines this phenomenon in Ireland and theorises it through the concept of ‘accumulation by dispossession’. It is argued that the latter has manifested itself through four main processes: (1) private repossession of assets nationalised in the wake of the crisis, (2) restructuring of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), (3) commodification of assets hitherto outside the market, and (4) privatised stimulus through public-private partnerships. Such privatisation is significant because it allows investors to capture a larger share of the Irish economy and hence acquire more control over livelihoods and economic policy. Furthermore, ownership of assets often becomes foreign, reducing accountability even more. Also, privatisation decreases democratic input into economic decisions and planning as ownership of key economic sectors and provision of significant services is taken away from the public. In short, privatisation is a neoliberal policy par excellence as it contributes to increasing business power over the economy. It will be seen that the driving forces for privatisation have originated from both Ireland and Europe.