A discourse of marketisation prevails in recent publications on higher education in Ireland. Higher education is urged to heed the call to the markets and to become the driver of Ireland's future economic success, as Ireland seeks to build a knowledge-based economy. This article questions the dominant marketisation discourse in higher education. It explores the arguments for and against a market-led approach to education and argues that there can be no pure markets in education. It suggests that the real discourse is one of urging universities to follow government- or corporate-led agendas. It proposes a wider-encompassing discourse on higher education's role in society rather than one confined to the socially constructed language of performativity. (Contains 1 note.)