Summary of ideas submitted in the Construction category…

• Insulate all domestic and commercial premises to save energy and money.
• To loosen the red tape surrounding planning laws.
• Develop infrastructure to create jobs.
• Build an Irish Sea tunnel.
• Utilise any waste or leftover matter resulting from production by finding an alternative use for it.
• The government should buy affordable houses for the unemployed to live in.
• The grants that are given for home insulation need to be reduced because contractors are finding it convenient to bump up their prices and no benefit is given to the customer
• A competition should be launched with a prize fund of €10,000 to see who can build the most environmentally friendly house for under €250,000. This could be televised to show people green ideas.
• The NDP should remove its focus on the construction of roads and other infrastructure to the development of a carbon neutral solution to electrical power generation. This will maintain employment in the construction industry and hopefully lead to a greener energy supply.
• Galway City Council should spend money on two-up two-down semi D houses to house the homeless.
• The government should offer bonds at a rate higher then the deposit rates in banks and lower then the rates that they have to pay for borrowing internationally, and use the money to develop the physical infrastructure around Ireland.
• The sites that have been left vacant by builders in housing estates should be sold on to individuals who would have five years to build on the sites. These individuals would then usually have a choice of seven possible house types they could build that would fit in with the surroundings. This will hopefully spark the building trade.
• Instead of putting money into the banks the government should nationalise the dodgy assets. The government should pay 80% of their value and the banks should take a 20% hit.
• Build scale models of the four largest cities in Ireland to be used by town planners to aid them in planning
• Restart any stalled government construction projects.
• Reduce stamp duty.
• Put vacant properties to use - Government rent them for council housing / use as community centres.
• Put clauses on stamp duty to make it more effective.
• Require households to have listed household items serviced every two years - safety reasons and creates jobs.
• Create more tolled roads for main routes.
• Make it a legal requirement for immediate disclosure of property selling prices to an online website
• Investigate Government rental property landlords. Rent allowances provided by the HSE to those on unemployment benefits are above market rates.
• Government should force the financial institutions to release people from fixed rate mortgages for those who wish it
• Volunteers to build social houses in each community.
• Apprentice trades should not be paid by FAS while they participate in FAS training.
• Reintroduction of the traditional rural housing concept.
• Government run pension scheme.
• Get Irish billionaires to donate to worthy causes.
• Encourage co-location of private hospitals on public land.
• Employ currently unemployed people to improve the Irish transport system.
• Outsource construction projects to international experts to help with the economy.
• Employ currently unemployed people to improve Irish school buildings.
• Continue with decentralisation project and construction of the required buildings.
• Government to help bailout those people who are currently in negative equity.