Summary of ideas submitted in the Other category…

• The Government must renege the terms it signed with Shell for oil off Ireland.
• The Government needs to use experienced economists and be advised by people outside of politics.
• The Government owns Anglo Irish Bank. This means that all the land bank and properties given as sureties for these toxic loans could be called in, and the Government could use the land/property for social purposes e.g. use land for parks, sports grounds, sites for schools etc. Similarly, property could be put to use on behalf of people by providing office space for charities.
• The Government pays for energy i.e. gas, electricity and heating bills for social welfare recipients. If it were to fit out the houses of those people with solar panels and/or windmills, at an initial bulk sum of, say €5,000, this would be cost effective in the long run because the Government (and the tax payer) will not have to pay these bills.
• The Government print a scratch card that is €2 or €3 each. If you win - well done. If not, after the cost and the shopkeeper’s cut, the rest of the money goes towards the €7 billion we need to pay back.
• The Government provides employment in businesses to 100,000 individuals claiming unemployment benefit. Businesses hire the unemployed individual; the Government pays the individuals the minimum wage for one year.
• The Government should be in a position to force the banks to allow hard pressed mortgage clients off the fixed rate and onto the current interest rate.
• The Government should be made up of a group of people from different parties who are the best people for the job.
• The Government should bring the price of cigarettes, beer, wine, cars and food down.
• The Government should consider putting the first €20 of each monthly child benefit into one of the private health insurance policies, thereby ensuring that each child is covered by private cover and this would reduce the funds required by the hospitals for free patient care.
• The Government should cut the VAT rate to 14%.
• The Government should decide that employers who take on new employees from the dole pay no tax whatsoever for a period of 11 months.
• The Government should force the banks to call in the loans of property developers. The property developers will not be able or will not have the money. The banks move and repossess these dwellings. The Government or local authorities then draw up short-term leases and move people who have been evicted into these new dwellings at a nominal sum per month, retaining ownership.
• The Government should have an independent team (perhaps under the Office of the President rather than attached to government at all) with a remit to reduce waste and give assessments of future plans.
• The Government should introduce a fee-for-all medical card prescriptions, similar to the UK system (a basic fee in the region of €5 or less) which could be paid by the medical card holder or long-term illness clients.
• The Government should lead by example and take a pay cut that will help the national exchequer.
• The Government should look at a proposal to force the large supermarket chains to sell groceries in the Republic at the same price as they sell these goods in Britain and in Europe.
• The Government should lose its ownership/association with all state bodies in transport including Bus Éireann, Aer Lingus (Government could spin off the Heathrow to Dublin routes into a holding company and “rent for a notional figure” the routes to those that best serve the national interest).
• The Government should offer a guaranteed savings package to invest directly in government infrastructure. The bonds should ideally be DIRT free, and offered at a significantly competitive interest rate that is related to the number of years that the funds would be in committed to a fixed term, e.g.: 5% for one to five years, 8% for five to 10 years, 10% for 10 to 15 years etc.
• The Government should purchase a stock of unoccupied houses at cost price for the sole purpose of remortgaging the houses to public service employers. Instead of paying public service employers huge pensions, allow them the option to purchase a house off the Government.
• The Government should repossess the houses of those with unpaid loans and use the deeds as collateral for the bank guarantees.
• The Government should review the policy of giving women on maternity leave full pay.
• The Government should set up a National Infrastructure Fund maybe through The National Treasury Management Agency.
• The Government should set up a sale/leaseback/buy-back scheme for state assets and sell these assets (properties) to individuals or groups of individuals on the basis that they would lease them back to the Government at the actual borrowing cost to the individuals (whole system would be transparent, there would be no profit to the individuals).
• The Government should set up a text service which allows the people to vote for change and implement these changes where possible, so that the will of the people is seen to be respected.
• The Government should suspend the 6.5% contribution to all public sector pensions for two years. AVCs should be unaffected. In the private sector, for the same period of time, employers who contribute to company pension schemes should instead reroute this payment in the form of taxation to the Government.
• The Government to set up its own mobile network.
• The GPO in Dublin’s O’Connell Street should be transformed into a National Opera House and museum.
• The health service should become more cost effective, and bring back student diploma nurses to work the wards.
• The high cost of apartment complex utility/community charges has recently been highlighted. All increases in community charges should be index linked.
• The Ideas Campaign could be the genesis of a fantastic reality TV show. Follow the development and mentoring process of a selection of some of the better ideas coming out of the campaign.
• The installation of stair lifts for people who wish to stay in their own home has been grant aided under disabilities section of the local county council. When the patient dies, stair lifts are redundant and cannot be reused or sold on.
• The Irish Government has a number of subsidy programmes currently under review for budget cuts. Instead of simply slashing the budget with respect to these (and potentially many other) government obligations, the Government should sponsor a finance programme with commercial banks (including the Government-owned Anglo-Irish Bank) pursuant to which farmers (and other persons/companies entitled to subsidies or reimbursements) are immediately provided with loans equal to the amount of the Government obligation.
• The Irish taxpayer pays approximately €20 million a year towards maintaining a Senate. Scrapping this archaic institution would save valuable money that could be used more wisely elsewhere or simply saved, or even allow for tax relief to help stimulate the economy. New Zealand, a country of similar population to Ireland, had a senate up until 1950, at which point they abolished it.
• The minimum wage should be reduced; likewise the dole would need to be reduced in line with this.