Summary of ideas submitted in the Policy category…

• The Government should take further pay cuts, and Government department heads should also get pay cuts and be run more cost effectively.
• The Government, political parties, media, business and labour associations all need to work together.
• The members of most state boards, quangos etc are currently paid an annual fee plus expenses. I propose that such service be deemed a honour and a civil and patriotic duty, Reduce the number of politicians in the Dail to 100.
• The President should lead country and dissolve Government.
• The President should step in and establish a brains trust to solve the country’s problems.
• The private sector should build schools and lease the buildings to the state for a 20-year period.
• The Revenue Commissioners should only apply standard bank rates to late tax payments and, instead of penalties, an administration fee should apply.
• The State has a large fund available for foreign aid investment. Graduates and other skilled personnel could be offered work for 12-24 months teaching / training / constructing in a third world country possibly through the existing network of NGOs (VSO, UN, GOAL etc.
• The State should buy unoccupied property from developers and place it on the market at a fixed price. This price would never change by more than the rate of inflation.
• The state should by now be telling the banks to fund the economy with the money the tax payer has put in to save them.
• The state should charge banks for the security, the army, and gardai provided for the transport of money.
• The State should advance 50% of the R&D funds required by anyone looking to set up a company who has a patent locally or internationally.
• The unemployed should contribute to the economy by volunteering in hospitals and retirement homes.
• The VHI should launch a loyalty scheme whereby people who join only pay at the level applicable to the age group at which they joined.
• The young unemployed should go into training/education so that they can earn their benefits.
• There should be 3 rates of PAYE, those earning over €100,000pa should be paying the higher amount and those on lower incomes the lower rates.
• There should be a confidential telephone line for reporting tax and social welfare related fraud.
• There should be a more defined tax policy and we should bring back the “roll-over relief” on the sale of assets, which had previously been abolished.
• There should be a review of pensions limiting state pensions and redirect the saving to limit income taxes on low income earners.
• There should be a windfall legislation whereby the Government invests a percentage of its revenue in funds rather than spending it.
• There should be consultation of frontline service providers on an anonymous basis to minimise the effect of workplace politics.
• There should be harsher punishment for serial offenders and strip social welfare entitlements from hese offenders.
• There should be incentives for companies to employ graduates of all descriptions e.g. no employers contributions to PRSI for the first year of the graduates employment, a grant of 5 thousand per annum.
• There should be no free education or childcare allowance for those families earning above €100k.
• There should be no Stamp Duty on exchanges of property of the same size.
• There would be continued full social welfare payments and accumulation of work credits which would be defined as for every hour of community work completed the person receives a work credit. Every work credit is the equivalent to 1 hours work. This would allow the person to work like a self employed person for a number of hours a week. Income from this work would be tax free up to a limit and up to a certain time limit.
• Those with Irish citizenship should be a taxed resident in Ireland and not a foreign domiciled.
• To restart the budget from a zero base and create incentive schemes for public servants to find ways of reducing costs.
• Town Councils should be abolished as they duplicate the work of their parent county councils.
• Travel and subsistence rates should be amended to encourage lower CO2 emissions. Tax to expenses claims above €1000.
• Treat Ireland as a large Silicon Valley focusing on enticing R&D and IT based companies.
• Treat mental health patients at home if possible.
• Treat workers in public sector more like workers in private sector.
• Unemployed people should be allowed to register their business ideas as qualifying businesses and should receive their unemployment benefit as a ‘loan’. This would eliminate the need for them to sign on and declare themselves available for work. If the business idea comes to fruition, then the government can recover the loan by collecting this at the same time as collecting future PAYE etc.
• Unemployed people should be given part-time work on socially beneficial projects.