Summary of ideas submitted in the Other category…

• The Minister for Finance should instruct motor insurers to charge the motor tax with the motor premium.
• The money given to the banks should be repaid by the banks by reducing the balance of money owed to them by personal customers. That means reducing people’s credit card balances, car loans, and so on.
• The NTMA (National Treasury Management Agency) is recognised as an excellent fund manager and the country needs money. The model of outsourcing and looking for excellence is part of the success of the NTMA. My idea is to freeze all public sector pensions and expand the remit of the NTMA to allow it to take in and manage private pension contributions and total private pension funds.
• The population at large needs to adjust thinking to accept a bit less of everything.
• The prospect of impending financial penury should now concentrate our minds on a return to sound management of our finances, both at a personal and institutional level. This will involve radical changes in the financial, economic and political structures of our society.
• The public on entering a hospital are invited to clean their hands with an anti-bacterial gel. At the same time they are walking around corridors and wards wearing shoes which carry potential germs such as dog dirt, gum, spit etc on their soles. My idea is to place a disinfecting mat at all entry points of the hospital.
• The Seanad should be reformed, with some 30 to 40 positions given to senior people on an honorary basis with expenses paid to them or something like the salaries that councillors have.
• The State should offer Irish inflation-linked bonds to institutional investors.
• The whole system of professional remuneration should be changed to one of at least 75% of the fees being on the basis of “no foal, no fee”. It is far too easy for so called consultants to lead the entrepreneur up the garden path, whether or not a new idea succeeds or not.
• There are a lot of employees out there with ideas about starting a new business/venture. If they start this new business part-time, while still working in their existing job and the business fails, they will most likely have paid for the start-up venture from their after-tax income. There should be an easy way of offsetting this investment costs against any others taxes paid.
• There are loads of people out there who could do Ryan Tubridy’s or Gerry Ryan’s jobs for much less money.
• There are lots of open green spaces even in cities like Dublin where (at least until things improve) some of the existing corporation/government-held land could be used for small-scale food-growing and green-energy projects used by local community.
• There are many archaeological sites in North Mayo-South Sligo region under the bogland and partly exposed above ground. Those sites are thousands of years old and consist of stone fences and even seed beds where crops were grown. If these sites were properly investigated and made accessible to the public they would attract many tourists to the region.
• There are many empty and unused premises in towns and villages. Maybe they could be made available for use by youth of Ireland in some way, as youth centres run by the young people themselves.
• There are too many TDs and in real terms the number should be halved. This would improve decision making as TDs would be able to rely on a broader base of support rather than narrow bases. The money saved in salaries would be an additional benefit.
• There is a great need for micro lending.
• There is a need for sheltered housing (for older persons) in the heart of the community, with on-site intergenerational facilities. If the housing units are in the heart of the community, residents will be able to access necessary amenities. This ensures continued mobility, stimulation and interaction. The benefits of this integrated model of housing for the elderly are numerous.1. Funding for this type of development is available from the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. 2. It releases three-bedroom houses into the local authority housing stock. 3. It costs the resident less than €100 per week in rent rather than up to €1,000 in a nursing home.
• There is currently a pension funding crisis that requires an injection of cash. If you look at the profile of public servants it is highly likely that there has been a significant increase in older people joining over the last 10 years who need to buy back years to realise their full pension. However the cost of buying back years is too expensive. Offer to cut (maybe by 20%) the cost of buying back years, then the lump sum injection would go a long way in providing cash to invest into the world’s share markets at a time when they really have a potential to grow.
• There is huge potential for the recycling of used vegetable oil (UVO) and production of biodiesel from tallow (or we could just burn it to generate electricity at the existing or old peat fired stations).
• There must be some way to use people in jail without infringing on their human rights or endangering the lives or law-abiding citizens, giving them free of charge to companies who need staff but can’t afford to pay them and this reduces their custodial sentence.
• There needs to be a serious overhaul of all the existing members of quangos, Oireachtas, Seanad members etc. There has got to be a realisation that we are a nation of 4.23 million people.
• There remain two systems of land registration in Ireland. From 1972 to 2006 there were only three counties in Ireland where it was compulsory to register title in the Land Registry as opposed to the Registry of Deeds. Now 12 counties are areas of compulsory registration. Establish a campaign entitled “Let’s get Ireland registered!”, creating income for the Government and employment.
• There should be a €5 levy imposed every time a medical card holder uses his/her medical card; maybe €2.50 for children under 16 as I believe it would stop abuse of such a resource.
• There should be a cap of €100,000 on all bank officials’ salaries and if they want to earn more they should be paid the rest in toxic debts - they approved the lending of this money in the first place.
• There should be a whistleblower line where people can confidentially report people such as those who are claming social welfare unfairly.
• There should be one day a week designated to ‘buying Irish and local’.
• Third and fourth-year apprentices who have lost their opportunity to complete their training due to job losses could be allowed to do some of this necessary work in conjunction with housing aid for the elderly.
• This country is spending more than it can afford in public sector spending. It needs to benchmark itself against a comparable country and adjust salaries, benefits and social welfare payments. Health sector workers are paid between 20 and 40% more than their NHS counterparts.
• Those who sign on the dole could perform a number of hours of work per week. This could be arranged by employers informing the dole offices of work available in five-hour slots and the skills required.
• Tiered Government Bond - Current government overseas borrowing is serviced from taxes imposed on Irish people who are saving at home with the imposition of DIRT. A Government Bond with a capital and interest guarantee from the outset and further incentivised with reduced DIRT rates would prove beneficial to both the Government and Irish citizens who are seeking, in these uncertain times, secure and reliable investment instruments.
• To combat welfare fraud, job seekers allowance must be collected in person at the post office.
• To encourage more people to be self-employed rather than waiting for a job to be created for them, the range of benefits available to self-employed people on their PRSI contributions should be increased. Many self-employed people are earning the same or less than PAYE workers and have practically no entitlements in terms of PRSI for dental or unemployment benefits.
• To have the single mother income continue until the child is 18/22 is ridiculous from many aspects. It discourages the mother from re-entering the workforce, it shows the child than there is no need to go out and earn money - it just comes through the door like magic.
• Transform Anglo Irish Bank into a “toxic bank”.
• Travel and accommodation expenses could be saved if politicians were able to participate in conference call type meetings using telephone, video and/or web technology.