The revelations about Uber’s lobbying activities show how the Irish state really operates.
Officially, we live in a democracy where we all have an equal say. In reality, those with money get to shape policy behind the scenes.
Uber wanted to de-regulate the taxi industry so that anyone can be a taxi driver.
So they hired John Moran as a lobbyist. Moran is a former Secretary-General in the Department of Finance, appointed by the Fine Gael Minister Michael Noonan.
After leaving his civil service job, Moran set up a private consultancy business called Red House Hill International. He was available for hire by big business to gain access to key figures in the Irish state.
In 2015, Uber decided to open a service centre outside Dublin and they wanted to “to use it to get some political leverage”.
Shortly afterwards they hired Moran.
Between September and December Moran got to work, setting up meetings with Fine Gael Ministers.
In January Moran gets Fine Gael to include in their manifesto a reference to a ‘sharing economy’, directly written at the behest of Uber.
Uber then open a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in Limerick.
In the end, Uber did not succeed in getting what it wanted. Even the neoliberals in the Department of Transport thought that their demands amounted to a scrapping of all regulation, and this could only lead to chaos.
So, it might be claimed that Irish democracy worked.
But not quite.
Officials in the Department of Finance met with private equity vulture firms 65 times in 2013 and 2014. Mr Noonan attended eight of these meetings. This was when Moran was at the helm of the Department.
This time the vulture funds got their way – with extra tax breaks it promised that they could earn some of the highest rents in Europe.
The Irish state serves the interest of big business. This does not mean that each individual company gets their way.
But they use their money to get direct access to the state machinery. And they often get their way.
Much more so than the poor who desperately need state help.