Latest Publications News.

December 2011, Boston v Berlin: 50 Years of Irish Antitrust just published in Evolution of Competition Laws and Their Enforcement A Political Economy Perspective, (Routledge).

This is an updated version of a paper marking 50 years of Irish competition policy, which was originally presented at the Dublin Economics Workshop Annual Economic Policy Conference in Kenmare in October 2003. Competition and merger control legislation in Ireland predated similar provisions in many other European countries. Ireland’s original antitrust legislation, the Restrictive Trade Practices Act, was enacted in 1953. Merger controls were first introduced in 1978, while many EU Member States had no domestic merger control legislation before the introduction of the EU Merger Regulation in 1990. An analysis of the history and evolution of Irish competition policy shows that it has oscillated between the US and EU models. The paper argues that, for much of its history competition policy has tended to play a subservient role to industrial policy type considerations, and political rhetoric favoring competition was generally not matched by effective action. For more details click here.

Late Conversion: The Impact of Professionalism on European Rugby Union, UCD School of Economcis Working Paper WP/11/18.

The working paper which was co-authored by Compecon Director Patrick Massey, Dr. Vincent Hogan of UCd and Shane Massey of Trinity College looks at the impact of the introduction of professionalism on European Rugby Union. Sports leagues and their members have often been permitteed to engage in activities such as collective selling of braodccasting rights which would not be permitted in other areas of business. Such arrangements have often been justified as promoting greater competitive balance thus making sports leagues more attractive to fans. The paper compares the level of competitive balance in the three main European rugby leagues - the English Premiership, French Top 14 and Magners League - and in soccers FA Premier League. The Bosman case means that there is a European labour market for players in both sports. The fact that soccer leageus are organised along national lines has meant that the best players have tended to move to the larger country leagues resulting in a growing competitive balance in both national leagues and European competitions. The lack of such restricitons in rugby has enabled the smaller countries to establish a joint league which has prevented Anglo/French dominantion of the Heineken Cup. Click here to download a copy of the working paper.

Speaking at the UCD Law Faculty in 2001,  Compecon Director Patrick Massey with Dermot Cahill of UCD (left) and Mr. Justice Peter Heerey of the Federal Court of Australia (right).