Summary of ideas submitted in the Policy category…

• Strictly enforce parking and speeding fines.
• Support new businesses as well as business failures to encourage more people to take the risk at the outset.
• Switch National Lottery sports and arts funding to training and education.
• Switch the one-off payment of Stamp Duty to an incremental system.
• Take 10% off everything including groceries, doctor’s fees, insurance etc
• Take full ownership of the banks with a view to isolating the bad assets and re-floating the strong elements of them in at least two competing banks. This will allow time to restructure and downsize the banks to the appropriate size.
• Take money from workers in the private sector to put into a national pension fund.
• Tax exiles should forfeit their Irish citizenship.
• Tax expensive luxury items such as helicopters, yachts etc.
• Tax horse breeders.
• Tax increases should be accompanied by measures that will do something to get the economy moving on every level. Banks should not be permitted to increase their capital position at the cost of the real economy. Review the aggressive attitudes of the Revenue Commissioners in their collection processes.
• Tax the tax free lump sum at retirement but announce it starting next year so people get a chance to retire availing of the tax free amount and their jobs will go to someone else.
• TDs should get training before appointment to ministries.
• The €140 per MWh guaranteed price for offshore wind power should be limited to those projects that use Irish-made turbines.
• The children’s allowance should not be given to all regardless of income. Those who have incomes over €100,000 combined from both partners do not need the children’s allowances and this could be better spent somewhere else.
• The cost of medical drugs is far higher in Ireland than in most other European countries and the Government should address this by making it HSE policy to buy generic drugs where possible.
• The creation of a “stamp out waste” board who reduce expenditure waste within the public sector.
• The Department of Social Affairs should pay a reduced dole to young new graduates, giving them the opportunity to travel whilst making it easier for the older unemployed to find jobs.
• The existing method of levying Local Authority Rates should be abolished.
• The Government could pay unemployed tradesmen to go abroad and build housing etc in places of need instead of paying €1billion in aid.
• The Government is going to increase our taxes; these new taxes should be for a fixed period of time such as five years.
• The Government needs to get messages to the public in a positive manner and they need good PR and targeted television and newspaper coverage to do this.
• The Government should allocate vacant office space on a rent-free basis to start-ups and allow the people involved in the start-ups to continue on benefits that will gradually decrease over a period.
• The Government should alter its recapitalisation policy.
• The Government should buy shares in Irish sustainable energy companies.
• The Government should change management strategy to let people know what is happening and show the benefits of the changes the Government will make.
• The Government should change their policy on social welfare for the unemployed.
• The Government should charge a fee on every bank transfer, for example 1% on a bank transfer from a bank account to another.
• The Government should charge the banks for Army and Garda escorts for money transfers.
• The Government should employ experts & the Taoiseach and ministers should take a 60% pay cut.
• The Government should encourage all employers, especially SMEs, to hire one extra employee by providing an Employee Support scheme.
• The Government should give a guarantee that they will buy back the shares of the two major banks at a set price within five years.
• The Government should give a morale boosting speech.
• The Government should give an employer a 90 day tax break on all the taxes they pay for employees that are coming off unemployment. This would encourage businesses to hire people who are currently costing the Government money.
• The Government should have a policy which stipulates that public broadcasters such as RTE should have a bias towards reporting positive good news stories