Summary of ideas submitted in the Policy category…

• Reform stamp duty and the VAT model.
• Reform the civil service by invoking short time for roles not in demand i.e. ex health board managers and admin staff in the HSE.
• Reform the domestic energy market
• Reform the liquidation process as liquidators receive payment first, leaving very little for creditors of the company.
• Reform the social welfare system to benefit those who paid the most PRSI whilst in employment.
• Regulate petrol prices and increase petrol taxes.
• Re-house people currently in rent supplement assisted accommodation. Charge them appropriate rent or rent to buy options.
• Reimburse receipted expenses only in both state bodies and private companies. Being reimbursed for expenses should not mean that you make a profit and it’s no secret the rates payable are far in excess of the amounts incurred.
• Reintroduce old rule of thumb that mortgages can only be worth 2 to 3 times a persons annual income
• Reintroduce ‘term time’ in public sector as it gave parents time with their kids, young people good work experience and was cheaper labour for those two months.
• Relax drink driving rules in rural areas.
• Relax legislation on the sale of alcohol. For example, pub opening hours should be the same as night-clubs. At the same time, increase the enforcement of legislation on the sale of alcohol to minors and the intoxicated.
• Relax revenue rules around employee share ownership schemes.
• Remove all tax breaks relating to housing.
• Remove criteria for expenses claim in relation to size of engine and base it solely on miles/kms travelled.
• Remove protectionism in the energy sector.
• Remove the preferential creditor status of the VAT man. This will ensure a higher dividend for trade creditors.
• Renegotiate the Corrib Gas Field contract.
• Replace road tax with extra 20cent per litre fossil fuel tax and over haul VRT (new formula provided).
• Request to join the UK so as to have a large domestic market.
• Require all newly qualified lawyers and barristers to participate in the state’s free legal aid scheme. These solicitors and barristers would be paid a nominal fee and appointed to their clients by the courts.
• Restructure capital expenditure schemes.
• Restructure support services for entrepreneurs.
• Retake ownership of the Corrib Gas Field.
• Reuse items such as crutches which the HSE give out for free and don’t take back.
• Revenue should be empowered to centrally collect local taxes in the form of a percentage of turnover as with VAT.
• Revenue should offer a 30% settlement to those who hoarded cash during the boom plus remainder in Government bonds for 5 years.
• Review senior management positions in public and semi-public bodies.
• Review sick leave provisions in the public service.
• Review the impact that tax increases will have on the already constrained spending in this country.
• Revise the criteria for schemes such as back to work/education etc.
• Richard Bruton should be instated as minister for finance.
• Road fund tax should be overhauled.
• Save jobs - no more redundancies.
• Seize banks, sack bank chiefs and seize property of people who can’t pay debt.