Suchergebnisse

peer-reviewed ; This paper was obtained through PEER (Publishing and the Ecology of European Research) http://www.peerproject.eu ; Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) transfer significant responsibility for infrastructure and public service delivery to the private sector. This raises questions in relation to accountability in the context of PPP. An important accountability mechanism is the Value for Money (VFM) assessment which procuring authorities in Ireland must conduct prior to adoption of PPP. This paper examines the application of VFM appraisal procedures in the case of the water services sector. As the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, considers PPP as the preferred model of procurement, VFM assessments fail to deliver an acceptable level of accountability. The result is a mono-culture of PPP procurement in the water services sector.

This paper explores the practice of contracting in public private partnerships (PPP). Focusing on the first Irish PPP to provide secondary schools, it draws on perspectives from transaction cost economics and socio‐legal theory. It finds that theex antecontractual setting was undermined by pushing forward with the PPP before conducting an adequate level of project appraisal. It explores the experiences of key stakeholders in theex postcontracting stage and concludes that the conduct of contracting practice was not characterized by the shift to relational contracting expected under PPP. Whereas this approach to contractual governance did not hinder the development of broadly trusting relations between the client and contractor, this was not manifest in terms of relations between the contractor and schools. A significant degree of conflict was evident in some schools‐contractor relations, something which can be attributed to sources of transaction costs, including incomplete information, bounded rationality and uncertainty.

peer-reviewed ; This paper was obtained through PEER (Publishing and the Ecology of European Research) http://www.peerproject.eu

Presents the first survey evidence of privatization of local authority services in the Republic of Ireland. The survey focuses on the case of refuse collection. Describes findings in the context of economic theories underpinning such policies which have relevance to countries adopting pragmatic and gradual approaches to public‐service reform. Unlike the pioneers of privatization such as the UK, this form of privatization has evolved in Ireland without any governmental edicts or policy guidelines. The consequence of such a development is the evolution of an array of privatization arrangements which have been generalized into three basic models. While it is too soon to assess the results of the transformation in terms of cost savings and effects on service quality, the survey primarily highlights the deficiencies in procedures adhered to. This is attributed to the absence of a general privatization policy. Despite the inadequacy of procedures already initiated, argues that, because reform is at a preliminary stage, new developments in public‐service management can contribute positively to a much needed public‐service reform policy.

Privatisation in Europe Privatisation Objectives: Theory and Evidence Public Enterprise and Privatisation in Ireland Privatisation and Performance in Ireland The Financial Costs of Privatisation Employee Share Ownership Plans Telecommunications: A Tale of Privatisation Failure Nationalisation of the Irish Banking Sector Lessons from Privatisation and the Future of State Owned Enterprise