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Increasingly Ireland is being identified as a country whose public services are underdeveloped. Given the wealth of the economy, this is a situation that is far from acceptable. Because poorer people rely on public services more than those who are better off, it is they who are most acutely affected by this shortage. This issue has been examined by the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF). In its report entitled Improving the Delivery of Quality Public Services it recommended a series of developments (2006:112-117). CORI Justice believes that Government should implement the approach for the delivery of public services outlined in the NESF report.

We address public services over this section and the next three sections on housing and accommodation, healthcare and education. This section assesses public transport, library services, information and communications technology, telecommunications, sports facilities and regulation.52

^{Public transport}

Transport remains a most problematic area. Bottlenecks throughout the country are adding to the difficulty and cost experienced by everybody in conducting their lives. The sustained increase in the number of cars is also adding to problems of environmental destruction.53

Transport policy should seek to combine easy access, affordable and high-quality public transport with the high costs of ownership and use of private vehicles. Continued support is also required for the development of public transport schemes in rural Ireland. For such a policy to be credible it must be comprehensive, adequately resourced and enhance the current provision. These schemes significantly increase the quality of life of those living in remote rural areas, particularly older people. CORI Justice welcomed the doubling of the cash funding available to the Rural Transport Initiative (RTI) by 2007 as agreed in Towards 2016.

We also note the commitment to providing a steady increase in funding for rural transport services in the years to come. We hope that these commitments continue to be honoured and are implemented in consultation with the community and voluntary sector which has a vital contribution to make and role to play in local and rural transport services.

^{Library services}

Libraries play an important role in Irish society. According to the Library Council there are over 14 million visits to public libraries annually and in 2005 (the most recent figures available) there were 778,421 registered members in the public library system; equivalent to 20% of the population. These membership figures alone do not capture the increasing level of usage by adults of the reference, information and other services in public libraries, such as local history and exhibitions.

Reflecting this, a 2003 survey by TNS (MRBI) found that 36 per cent of the adult population had used a public library recently. The same survey also found that 68 per cent of adults were or had been a member of a public library (Library Council, 2004). Clearly, public libraries play a strong and central role in Irish society. CORI Justice believes that as part of our commitment to providing a continuum of education provision from early childhood to third level. Ireland needs to recognise the potential that the library service offers.

Central to such developments is information and easy access to this information. Coupled with information is the need for easy access to modern means of communication. Libraries are obvious centres with potential to support these objectives. To play this potential role, expansion of the library service is essential. Recent budgetary policy has been neglectful of this important role. Budget 2008 gave a budgetary increase of €6m, a figure that is welcome. However, we regret that a more substantial investment has not been made in the library service. In the long-term a failure to resource this service properly is shortsighted.

^{Information and communications technology}

Increasingly the ability to use information and communications technology (ICT) is becoming a central requirement in modern society. The phenomenon of a technological divide is becoming evident. In particular it is of concern that a number of young people, including early school-leavers, have little or no skill in ICT. Consequently initiatives are necessary to improve information technology provision in schools, as well as to increase its availability in areas such as public libraries and community centres. Government needs to show greater commitment to this area.

It also needs to address the issue of including everybody in the information society. In addressing this issue it is crucial that priority is given to ensuring access is available to those who currently cannot afford the market costs. Ignoring this will ensure that the “digital divide” will widen social exclusion. More, targeted, resources are needed.

^{Telecommunications}

Three issues arise within the topic of telecommunications. First, CORI Justice was concerned by the request in March 2003, one repeated during 2007, by Eircom, Ireland’s principal telecommunications company, that they be relieved of their universal public service obligation to provide a telephone for every house in the country. Instead they proposed sharing the annual cost of this obligation with other telecommunications companies and with consumers. The impact of such a change would be sizeable on the poor and on those living in rural areas. Both would experience an increase in the proportions of their incomes needed to be spent to ensure they had access at home to a telephone land line. We welcome the fact that this change was not introduced; however the fact that it was requested raises concerns that an attempt to revisit this issue may occur in the years ahead. Any such change which would impose additional costs on people who are already isolated from society, physically and financially, should be resisted. In considering any future decisions of this nature the Communications Regulator (ComReg) should take these societal points into account.

A second issue in the telecommunications area concerns one of the consequences of the growth in mobile phone usage over recent years. This has seen a decline in usage of public payphones. In response to this a large number of these payphones
have been decommissioned. Overall, Eircom has reduced the number of payphones across Ireland from about 8,000 in late 2000 to 3,906 in December 2006. Since then the trend has continued. While it is understandable that some payphones would be removed, it is of concern that some people in society are being left without this vital means of communication. In particular those who are poor and unable to afford the costs involved in running a mobile phone are suffering.

Furthermore the impact on immigrant communities and on small rural areas of the removal of a payphone can be considerable. We urge care in any further decision to remove more payphones. It must be remembered that the usefulness of a payphone cannot be measured by its revenue alone. The very fact that a payphone is available if needed is a contribution that should not be overlooked. In that regard we welcome ComReg’s ruling in mid-2006 that Eircom should continue to provide public payphones as part of its universal service obligation and that these should “meet the reasonable needs of end-users in terms of geographical coverage, number of telephones, accessibility of such telephones to disabled users and the quality of services”(2006:9). CORI Justice believes it is necessary that ComReg continue to monitor this situation to ensure
that Eircom meets this obligation.

Finally, CORI Justice welcomes the commitment in Towards 2016 that the Government will continue to explore technical options to address the requirements of people living in underserved areas, and remote rural areas. We believe that the use of technological advances offers a real method of addressing many of the inequities that exist in the allocation of, and access to, information and telecommunications resources.

^{Sports facilities}

An insight into the role played by sport in Irish society was provided in an ESRI report entitled the Social and Economic Value of Sport in Ireland (Delaney and Fahy, 2005). Its findings indicated that: approximately 400,000 adults (15 per cent of the adult population) volunteer for sport in some way each year; 20 per cent of the adult population play sport; 30 per cent of adults are members of sports clubs; and the economic value of sport is between 1-2 per cent of GNP. In reaching its conclusions the report notes that current government policy commitments to promote social capital need to take account of the social aspects of sport and their potential contribution to the further development of social capital and volunteering in Ireland. Similarly it finds that there should be greater dialogue between those concerned with sports policy and those concerned with policy on social capital and volunteering; their common interest in sport should be recognised and explored; and their efforts to support social capital and volunteering should be co-ordinated. However, recent studies have also indicated a declining level of participation by Irish people, and in particular young people, in sports activities. Long term this may have significant health consequences. There is a special case to be made for poor areas, most of which have limited, if any, sports facilities. The National Sports Council has developed a creative initiative of local sports partnerships. Some of these are working effectively already and attempting to address this problem. Further funding for local sports partnerships should be made available. Given their huge potential such funding would be most worthwhile.

The national agreement,Towards 2016, contained a number of initiatives relating to sport and sports facilities. It committed government to: (i) increasing support for sports infrastructure and sporting organisations recognising that sport has the potential to be a driver for social change and that targeting specific groups can address issues of exclusion and inequality; (ii) promoting sport in education settings; and (iii) achieving the Irish Sport Council target for 2006 to 2008 to increase by 3 percent the numbers of children taking part in sport. CORI Justice supports each of these commitments and looks forwards to seeing the implementation of various initiatives aimed at fulfilling them.

^Regulation

As a result of privatisation, market reform and the European Union there has been a major growth in regulation in Ireland over recent years. The role of this regulation is as a public service to oversee the operation of markets and firms within the
economy. During 2002 the government published a consultation document entitled Towards Better Regulation and invited comments on its contents and suggestions. CORI Justice welcomed this process and responded by making a number of points and we welcomed the fact that many of these points were incorporated into the White Paper on Better Regulation (2004).

Central to our opinion on regulation is the view that all regulators, be they currently in existence or established in the future, should be required to consider the societal impact of any reforms they propose before they are implemented. Consequently we suggested that the proposed White Paper on regulation should adopt as its central approach the view that it is the societal outcome of regulation that is of most importance. Regulation should be judged on how its outcome impacts on social, cultural and sustainability issues within society. Implementing regulation with this as its central aim would certainly achieve better regulation for all. It would also ensure consistently better outcomes for consumers.

We also believe that there should be solid and justifiable reasons for introducing regulation. It should not be introduced just to create choice/competition within the market. For example, to achieve competition in the electricity market the electricity regulator recently increased the price of electricity. While this may achieve competition we question the benefit to people. Furthermore assessment mechanisms should be established to allow an analysis of regulation pre and post its implementation. Central to such an assessment procedure should be an examination of its societal impacts. To achieve this we believe that the NESC progress indicators should be used. We also believe that, as part of the assessment procedure, inputs should be sought from interested parties including the community and voluntary pillar of the social partnership process.

A further important aspect is the need to consider the impact of regulation within the context of regional policy. Cross-subsidisation issues, in postal or electrical services, are important to retain equity between rural and urban dwellers. A further challenge for regulatory authorities must be to retain this inter-regional equity. Regulation and regulatory law should be framed in such a way as to ensure that it is accessible and interpretable. Currently regulatory law is complex and in many
cases requires those being regulated to divert a considerable quantity of resources to keep up with it. Complex regulation will also make it difficult for interested parties to actively participate in the pre and post regulation assessment mechanisms. CORI Justice believes it is important that where regulation has been judged to be a failure, government should alter or reverse it.

Policy Proposals on Public Services

• Implement the approach for the delivery of public services outlined in the NESF report.
• Target funding strategies to ensure that far greater priority is given to providing an easy-access, affordable and high-quality public transport system.
• Continue to allocate additional resources to the Rural Transport Initiative, which increases significantly the quality of life of those living in remote rural areas, particularly older people and women.
• Provide substantial additional resources for the development of library services throughout the country.
• Increase the provision of open-access information technology in public libraries.
• Take the necessary steps to include everybody in the information society.
• Adopt further information-technology programmes to increase the skills of schoolchildren, early school-leavers, the unemployed and older people.
• Provide additional funding to the Sports Partnership initiative.
• Regulate the removal of public payphone services. This is particularly necessary for poor areas, migrant communities and rural areas where the revenue generated by a payphone can give a misleading interpretation of its significance to the community.
• Adopt policies which ensure that all types of regulation are judged against how they impact on social, cultural and sustainability issues within society. Implementing regulation with this as its central aim would achieve better regulation for all.
• Ensure equality of access across all public services.

Notes:

52 Issues specifically related to the provision of public services in rural areas are examined in section 3.11.
53 The environmental impact of cars is discussed in 3.10(b). See also our submissions to government on VRT and motor tax reform which are available on our website www.cori.ie/justice