Agriculture and food

Encourage people to grow their own food by encouraging farmers to lease allotments to people living in urban areas. This would reduce the amount of food having to be imported.

Education

I think a campaign should be started to encourage businesses to invest in colleges and universities. This could be done by means of sponsorship. If, after first year in college, businesses could be invited, or show an interest in viewing student transcripts or CVs from students.

Businesses could then offer to sponsor selected students until they finish college, while working for the company part-time, over the summer, or on work placement during their course and set down in contract that the student must work for the company for a certain amount of years after graduation.

This would benefit the students, and benefit the companies as after 3/4 years, they would have an employee ready for work, fully trained and with the relevant experience within the company. It could be agreed with the university through a contract that the company will pay a certain proportion more for the privilege of selecting these students. This might then alleviate some of the huge costs that universities face every year, or towards lowering the costs of fees.

This would then go a long way to creating an even more knowledge based economy. The quality of degrees would increase and we would have a highly skilled workforce available. With our low tax rates, multinationals would arrive here knowing that they will be guaranteed highly qualified and skilled employees.

The colleges would gain from the sponsorship, the students would gain from the sponsorship, the company would gain from the sponsorship. It would also help those students who might otherwise not be able to afford the high costs of attending college.

Green business

Every town in Ireland with a population of over 8,000 should have a local biogas supply initiative in place. Organic waste collected from restaurants, hotels, fast food and domestic households can be used to feed the biogas units, even farmers can grow plantations to feed it. Biogas is produced and the gas can be tanked and resold to local restaurants, hotels, nursing homes to fuel its heating or cooking units.

Jobs would be created in the construction, maintenance and running of the facility. Marketing and administration jobs would be created along with a nationwide spare parts support centre. Fabrication work and many technical high end support jobs would be created through this. It would be a lot better than sucking it out of the ground from some part of Russia!

Ireland can then be a leading example for other countries and can export manufactured units. It would also reduce our reliance on imported fuel and increase our own sense of energy security.

Green business

My idea is that all energy providers be obliged to provide a smart meter installed in the house or business premises so that the user would be able to monitor and reduce their usage of energy. I have dealings with hundreds of factories using machines, some of which are left running all day, even when not being used. The smart meter would very quickly emphasise the wastage of energy. The cost of supplying and installing the meters would be added to the customer’s bill and paid over a period of say 2 years.

Green business

Energy Efficiency: Driving around Ireland at night, you will see 100’s of opportunities for energy saving in premises who leave excessive lights on at night.

An example of Fingal County Council offices in Swords which are often alight late into the evening with nobody occupying (bar security personnel). Why not establish a website where people can submit observations on this energy wastage. Run by Dept of Energy, all it would need is: - Location - Date/Time - Observation etc.

It is a little “big brother” ish but I’m sure many business owners would be happy to receive the feedback on car park lights/display lights/office lights being left on incorrectly.

Website management could then forward the feedback onto relevant parties. Website named along the lines of: www.lightsout.ie or similar.

Green business

Based on a recently touted idea, but developed somewhat, I suggest an Alternative Fuel on Hire Purchase Scheme.

Yep - that’s right, an AFoHPS! Alternative energy sources, be it solar panels, mini-wind turbines, wood pellets etc., will reduce energy costs as soon as installed, so a monthly ESB bill might now be 60 euro instead of 100. [This money saved (40 euro) could be given to an investor on a monthly basis, who will have paid the initial cost of installation - not simply a grant, but the full cost].

Only an investor able to await this delayed payment, (possibly up to twenty years) which naturally includes a reasonable premium could underwrite such a proposal of course - if it has to be the State, so be it.

The household is paying money they would have been paying anyway, jobs are created and all that implies, reduced dependency on oil etc and the investor realises a profit.

Innovation

Reduce the cost and complexity of patenting - or actively support and subsidise it, thus encouraging established and budding inventors/entrepreneurs ultimately developing the creative economy.

Furthermore if patenting in Ireland was a more supported endeavour than elsewhere, many new products, improvements and technologies would at least start here, some of which may move on to being developed and even produced here also.

Manufacturing

There are skills and factories vacant and machinery lying idle which can be used with small adaptation: re-open Mallow beet factory and Carlow sugar factories, encourage farmers to grow beet once again, use these factories to produce bio fuel (beet, high sugar/starch content) for use in industry and cars.

Skills in textile factories: farmers grow flax, bamboo for production of textiles, adapt for use as insulation, and use same factories for production of sheep wool insulation.

Chipboard factories: adapt machinery to use raw materials to make wood pellets, as most of the pellets used here are imported, cut down on air miles and bring product closer to consumers, encouraging use of wood pellet burners.

State on all such products, whether from home or abroad the travel miles required to bring to place of sale, and apply a legitimate “fuel surcharge” on imported product, thereby encouraging home advantage.

Manufacturing

I am currently 15 years old and I think it would really be cool to manufacture wireless headphones. You could put your mp3 or ipod in your pocket and the ear pieces go in your ears but there is no wires connected to them.

The ear pieces could work along the lines of a wii remote the ear pieces will probably need to use batteries like the little round ones that go in calculators.

You could make cool designs for them to make teenagers buy them, they would probably have to come with a specially made mp3 with a built sensor bar and they could all come in a cute box that you can carry wherever you go.

Policy

I work as a GP in Dublin. From my training days in the UK in the early nineties, I was encouraged to prescribe medicines generically and not by trade name. I understand there is legal onus there on pharmacists to dispense the cheapest version of a drug, when prescribed by its generic name rather than by its trade name e.g. amoxicillin instead of amoxil.

The drug company mark up on drugs prescribed by trade name can be up to double the price of the cheapest alternative. At no stage, since my return to practice here in the past 15yrs, have I had direction in this regard from the HSE or seen any hint of similar legislation being considered.

This is something that would take little to resolve yet save hundreds of millions potentially each year. There should be collaboration between the HSE and the Irish College of General Practitioners to encourage this.

Small point - big saving.

Policy

The government raised children’s allowance in this country because childcare crèche prices were so high. In my opinion I think they should bring back down the children’s allowance and make crèches reduce their prices.

Policy

I would suggest that if a tax incentive, or tax free allowance were granted to anyone who creates a new job for someone on the live register, they get a tax free allowance for it, or tax credit.

For example, if an employer takes on someone off the live register, and pays them, say €30,000 per annum, they would get a tax credit of say, €3,000, so if they employ two people they would get a tax credit of say, €6,000, and so on.

This would mean that every person employed off the live register will save the state their cost to the exchequer, they are then tax paying citizens, and it is a double positive for the economy. It would also mean that employers who are employing people on the black economy, to regularise those jobs, creating more tax revenue for the state.

It could also be used to encourage those very high earners, who pay little tax in the state, to keep their money in the country, and create employment.

Policy

I work for a government body and I can honestly say that there is a great deal of waste in virtually all government departments. The culprit, I think, is the fear that if a budget is not spent, then the budget of that department will be reduced for the following year and the unspent money will be “lost” to the department.
My idea is simply to allow a department that under spends to roll-over a percentage of the unspent money to the following year with a small reduction for the following year.

For example, if Department A has a budget of 100,000 and they under spend by 10,000, then Department A should have its budget left unchanged and have 80% of the money rolled over into the following year’s budget. So, in the example, Department A would have 8,000 rolled to the next year and 2,000 returned to the “general” account for the agency.

This excess could be used to reduce debt (government agencies are often in debt as they operate in arrears as they await grant funding, etc.) for the agency or returned to the exchequer. As most budgets have been cut pretty harshly, this might be a way to get a “free” cut in spending.

Also, it allows each department to decide where they can cut rather than to have swingeing cuts made randomly at Ministerial level. Virtually every agency has fat–but it can be difficult to cut this at a national level. It’s easier to let Ministers set priorities and let the people on the ground find the savings in everyday items.

If such a policy was enacted, there would be annual surpluses in a number of agencies which could act as a cushion going forward. If an agency saved 100,000 in 2009, 90,000 in 2010 and 50,000 in 2011…it might be several years before the agency’s budget would need to be increased to account for future inflation.

Retail

I believe my idea would help shoppers, small producers and provide a low cost business opportunity for entrepreneurs. I call my idea ‘Order and Collect’.

If you could go to a location which had an ‘Order and Collect’ outlet. This could be in a community centre, a post office or even a neighbour’s house. You could order your shopping from an online catalogue have it delivered to that location and collect it and pay for it later.

Customers would benefit from an ‘Order and Collect’ outlet because they would have a choice of thousands of products at one location, they would not have to wait at home for delivery, they would save on delivery charges and they would not have any security worries about online payments.

Small producers would benefit, because they could service hundreds of customers at one location saving on delivery costs to individual addresses. They could get payment on delivery. ‘Order and Collect’ would provide a low cost business opportunity for entrepreneurs.

It could be located in a local shop or even in someone’s home. I believe ‘Order and Collect’ would have the advantages of internet shopping while allowing the customer to deal with a person. Many people shop on the internet and it is one area of retail that is growing. Many people have home based businesses using eBay or Amazon.

Social and voluntary

I am supportive of single mothers being supported in the early stages of their child’s life, but to have the single mother income continue until the child is 18/22 is ridiculous from many aspects. It kills entrepreneurship and implants in the child a lack of ambition.

We should help these mothers in the early days to get back on their feet, to get back into education and to get back into the workplace. This would save the economy many, many millions per annum and that money could be used to reinvest in children’s education and in adult education.

Apparently a single mothers ‘package’ is equivalent to 44k per annum when you add up all of the benefits. This is workable for the first few years - maybe until the child goes to primary school, but then it should end and that mother should be helped in every way to return to work/education.

This is key for influencing the next generation - so that they can break out of the welfare cycle. This benefit in its current format kills any incentive to work and provide. Other countries do this - they help the mother in the early years and then they get them going again.

Sport

Two of the big problems facing this country are: unemployment and obesity in children. We have 1000s of active sportsmen/women (some up to the standard of inter county GAA and LOI) unemployed. Why not have a schools programme run where these individuals would be allotted to schools (3 to 4 per school) and they would receive a top up on dole payment for periods of 15-20 hours a week training school teams.

There would be no requirement for an additional layer of management of such a scheme as school principle could monitor and sign off on the hours while teachers would be freed up to focus on core educational activities.

I’m sure that you could involve GAA, rugby and soccer bodies to part finance scheme as well. The gains would be more kids in sport and less active young men/women who have long hours and nothing to fill their time with.

You could even look at expanding whereby the people involved in the scheme liaise with existing school teachers to expand their own skill set (foreign languages/sciences/IT etc) in scheduled classes. E.g. you have 5 sports trainers who 1 or 2 days a week, have French lessons with existing French teacher in the school.

Technology

My idea has the capability to become a wireless access point allowing local wireless networks to expand coverage to weak areas which need camera coverage as well as a powerful Internet access point. In fact, this wireless camera can be programmed to “daisy chain” for several stages which can add up to miles of coverage.

Every shop on the main street has two discreet cameras fitted outside their premises, one looking left, crossing the camera looking right in this way you will pick up movement in both directions. Built into this IP camera is a wireless router thus hopping the wireless signal up to 200m down the street to the next premises with the same set-up.

The advantage of this setup is that each business owner has full access to the cameras located on their own premises only through standard internet connection. From my research in this area the time spent by Gardai collecting tapes and files from individual business CCTV systems is very time consuming, Gardai could be given rights to access all cameras in the scheme and view footage through a browser without leaving the office.

There are obvious benefits for towns and cities in employing a wireless network. Public safety can be improved with wireless CCTV cameras which can quickly be deployed to crime hotspots. Wi-fi can also play a role in monitoring parking, traffic flow management for street wardens. “People will take it up; they just don’t want to be paying a fiver an hour”.

The cost of the deployment will be partly paid for by ads on the Wi-Fi hotspot landing page which should be free to the end user who wants to use the Wi-Fi hotspot. The mains power for powering the cameras would be paid by the business premises and in return they would get discounted fibre broadband to their business.

(This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons)

Tourism

I am an Irish born Canadian senior citizen who returns to Ireland frequently. Unlike Irish seniors residents I have to pay on buses etc. I am not complaining.

But here is my plan: give every senior citizen visitor from every country free travel on buses and trains. How much can it cost? Buses and trains are half full most of the time anyway. You would be deluged with visitors.

It would be a case of spending a penny to make a pound. Cards could be issued at the point of entry by immigration officers or at some other point.

Many visitors spend relatively little on transportation and the forgone fares could be recouped ten times over by the other industries associated with tourism.

Agriculture and food

It should be noted that nutrition was optimal in the UK during the 2nd world war with rationing. With the present epidemic of maturity onset diabetes and obesity, I suggest putting VAT on processed and packaged foods, and high energy and carbonated drinks, leaving only vegetables, fruits and non-processed meat and fish free from VAT.

Agriculture and food

Develop a national “Ireland” food brand. This national brand could be licensed by private food companies for selling into foreign markets. This brand would enable all quality products, sourced and manufactured in the Irish food sector, to be sold in an effective and efficient manner.

The brand would be managed by a private company, which would have expertise in the area, under contract from An Bord Bia. We see brands such as Waterford Crystal being lost to international buyers. The value of Irish brands must be protected and leveraged to our own advantage.

Agriculture and food

We should not be importing so much of our vegetables and fruit. Importing especially from long distances not only leaves a carbon footprint but is also a drain on the economy. Farmers and horticulturists should be actively encouraged.

Why are we importing carrots from Holland, broccoli from Spain, garlic from China to name but a few when we could be growing all these ourselves? One of the major costs in the production of vegetables and fruit is that of labour.

Workers on jobseekers allowance and school leavers could be encouraged into this area and wages subsidised. This would also help people to expand their skill base while encouraging us to return to our agricultural roots.

Construction

As has been shown, the dependence on a ‘Services’ based economy is not working, as there is no indigenous manufacturing or product sales (outside of agriculture) to underpin it. We must start making things that people will buy overseas - real things - and not just bits of paper that we pass around which are essentially valueless (insurance/debt/house prices etc).

What I propose is a massive, national investment in a product which we have aplenty, and is increasing; is free in its raw state and is now worth more globally per litre than oil - FRESH WATER!

Like Lemass did in the 50’s, we need to invest large sums into ‘damming’ some of our (otherwise non-productive) upland areas - hills with glaciated/v-shaped valleys, which are common in places like West Cork & Kerry. We then use Hydro-Electric power (existing technology) to make electricity which powers the pumps required to fill tanker ships and filter the water.

Using ideal natural assets such as Bantry Bay, (the 2nd deepest natural harbour in the World), we can fill up huge amounts of water & ship them direct to Europe & Southern Europe (even the UK need is in the South!).

As Global Warming continues, Europe will on the whole be drying up, while we in Ireland are forecast for more rain! The price of this valuable commodity is only going one way - up, and we are ideally placed to take advantage of it. We may not even have to treat it to very high standards here - why can’t we filter it; send it off to Europe and treat it on arrival?

It would be a lot cheaper! The Capital Expenditure would initially be high, but it would give a massive labour boost to all the construction workers who are currently unemployed, and would pay ever increasing financial dividends in years to come. Leading the way in water technologies, using our Universities for R&D, could provide valuable spin-offs; provide high end jobs and still produce ‘real’ products instead of services.

* (This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons).

Construction

Review the entire process for the granting of planning permission. We have cash rich viable private individuals with proven track records in construction and development and they are being strangled by bureaucracy and the small mindedness of our planning department.

If they are willing to take a risk in the current climate and provide employment, then they should be not only be allowed but encouraged. Guidelines should apply but not the stranglehold that is currently choking our economy.

Construction

Rent to buy in the second hand house sector - to get the property sector moving again.
(1) The potential buyer and seller agree on a price that will be fixed over a lease period of 2 or 3 years.
(2) The buyer leases the property at an agreed monthly rent.
(3) At the end of the lease period the buyer has the option to purchase the house at the agreed price and if he does, 75% of the rent paid over the period goes towards the deposit.

This way the seller gets liquidity during the recession while the buyer gets to try the location, build up a deposit and potentially buy the house at below market value (if the market recovers in the 2/3 year period).

Otherwise, the buyer can release the option at the end of the period. Particularly suitable for buyers who want to trade up and have a fall back property, but requires government regulation.

Education

At the moment, there seems to be a lot of unease that the money being poured into science and technology is not necessarily translating into more jobs in this sector. Part of this problem is due to the fact that professors and researchers in third level education are, through no fault of their own, usually focused more on pure research as opposed to industrial R&D. Thus, the students who do PhD’s under them tend to be less industry-oriented than the government would like them to be.

One solution to this would be to introduce a system similar to that in the UK whereby a so-called Engineering Doctorate can be attained. This means that the student does some masters-level courses in a university for the first few months and then goes on to do research in a company that sponsors them, instead of doing it in a research institute.

It’s a win-win situation. The student does relevant research and obtains a respected qualification at the end of it, earning an EngD instead of a PhD. The company gets a motivated, young person to solve (a) particular problem(s) for them and also gets to link up with a university.

Also just as importantly, the government gets well-trained, talented individuals who will have excellent knowledge of the private sector and will be likely to continue in the direction of creating new business opportunities. The EngD and PhD programmes could coexist, the former for more industrial-oriented students and the latter towards more academically-oriented students.

* (This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons).

Green business

Recycling laptops for low cost economies like Africa and Asia. Businesses generally write off laptops after a 2 year period. These old laptops are generally in working order and need very little maintenance if we could recycle these, giving commitment to companies of safety of scrubbing all information. Then loading free operating systems like Linux and bundling freeware tool thus remanufacturing them for resale to growing or emerging economies at low cost.

Green business

Renewable energy is literally racing past everyone on a global scale. By this I mean that electric energy could become a by-product of the latent energy of motorway traffic. Motorways are energy channels - they are like rivers. I visualise a technology to harness this passing energy as similar to that of windmill technology.

The mechanics of developing such a technology would be left up to the likes of the ESB or others. Energy harnessed would be delivered into the national grid. As motorists spit out their carbon omissions, the flip side of this negative action would be that road users would also be reclaiming a portion of the global carbon footprint.

Let’s face it, motorways exist - they are not going away any time soon, despite what some environmentalists might wish for.

Let’s be proactive and explore the negative aspects of mooring (i.e. carbon omissions) and turn this into a positive action. If we explore this idea, Ireland could be at the forefront of a global green initiative, and Ireland Inc could benefit financially from worldwide applications to an Irish led green innovation.

Green business

Reduce the heat in public buildings, courts, government offices etc. Most of these buildings are heated to such a degree that the staff are wearing summer clothes in winter and members of the public coming in with coats on are sweating.

Policy

Lower the vat rate on goods to say 15% for a set period of time notifying the taxpayers in advance e.g. announce in April budget that VAT on goods will be reduced from June 2009 until April 2010 to 15%. The idea would be a bold statement/signal by government and should:

• Stimulate consumer demand thus increase tax taken from VAT
• Stimulate business to persevere through current difficulties i.e. light at the end of the tunnel
• Preserve jobs particularly retail/motor/construction
• Attract UK and foreign consumers (we have seen the reverse recently with consumers travelling north)

Policy

This site or ones similar to it should be run permanently, as a forum for ideas is always needed, not just in harder times.

Policy

Employment Subsidy of €300 per month. I am an employer in the retail/leisure industry, over the past 6 months business has been getting gradually quieter and profits have fallen, we have kept staff numbers the same and kept pay levels the same also, but we asked staff to consider short time and some have staff have volunteered to do 4 day weeks.

It has now come to the point that I will have to let go 2 members of staff. Their take home pay averages €400 per week. If they claim jobseekers benefit, one of them is entitled to approx. €200 per week plus rent allowance of approx. €100 per week (€1300 per month), the other staff member is entitled to approx. €340 per week (married with child) plus rent allowance of approx. €150 per week (€2100 per month).

For these 2 employees the state will have to pay €3400 per month. Add in the lost PRSI, Income Levy, Income Tax and the net loss to the state is €3800.

If the govt. paid me an employment subsidy of €300 per employee it would probably save me from letting them go and would keep the other jobs safe as well.

Bear in mind that my company contributes €15,000 per month in VAT, PRSI, Income Tax and Corporation Tax. Also remember their additional hidden costs of employment, loss of morale, loss of confidence, stress and worry, loss of productivity and you can see that the employment subsidy is a cheap investment for the govt.

Policy

Ireland should introduce a plastic bottle tax. A small levy maybe 5c per bottle would be applied to each plastic bottle sold. Like the plastic bag environmental levy, this would have environmental benefits while also collecting tax revenue. If the levy included bottles of sugary soft drinks, it might also have long-term health benefits.

Services (local)

To create a website to encourage feedback from customers (all of Ireland) of services and businesses they have dealt with. We already have one that people can write comments about solicitors, why not all services including shops etc.

Any company mentioned should be encouraged to provide a web link to their site and / or comment on the remarks made about them, this is already something eBay encourage. Vacant remarks can say it all!

Technology

Met Eireann to provide a text/alert web service similar to blight warnings where users can enter GPS co-ordinates and rules specifying alert conditions on a webpage. The conditions might be wind direction, wind speed, humidity, absolute change in degrees, etc.

Many heating systems are designed for continental Europe or USA with long periods of similar weather. The maritime nature of Irish weather means that the feedback systems are not as efficient as they might be. If a cold snap or heat wave is imminent, then a notification by text message can advise the recipient to manually adjust the heating/cooling system.

This would be useful in hospitals and schools to save energy. If students / patients / employees could log in to the web page and provide feedback for a particular location and time, the rules could be fine-tuned to match the perception of how the environment feels.

Transport

Cancel the Metro for Dublin. The people of this country do not believe it’s worth the cost. We are much better off not spending this money at the moment. We need to get our finances balanced before we consider such plans. It’s like applying for a mortgage without knowing what your income will be next year, never mind in 5 years.

The Ideas Campaign - latest sample of ideas received since campaign launch

Agriculture and food

Our agricultural land is our greatest natural resource and the CAP Policy has resulted in vast tracts of land all over Ireland lying unused. At the same time we are importing and transporting vast quantities of fruit and vegetables to meet consumer needs. This logistical exercise is damaging the environment. Also, there is a shortage of food in the world contributing to death and malnutrition.

My idea is for the Government to facilitate putting this land to constructive use. They have the power to overcome some of the obstacles which have been imposed which has resulted in complete waste of our natural resource.

There is still huge potential in organic farming/food production. In line with general green policies we should be able to market Ireland as the Organic Capital of Europe if not the world. We have a very rich tradition and skill in small farming, market gardening, and food production which pre-dated the industrialization of farming and these skills will be lost if they are not rejuvenated.

For example small holdings produced sheep which spawned wool production; knitting skills. We have people who have knowledge/skills. Given access to the land there is the potential to develop vibrant small industries. There would be no shortage of investors, given the right environment.

Construction

Can we put our unemployed construction workers to build flood defences for our towns and cities and soak-aways and ditches for our farm land, housing and roads. Our water treatment systems are Victorian, the water distribution piping leaks more water than it delivers. Why not fix the systems now? These infrastructure projects would begin to pay for themselves immediately.

Construction

Government is presently investing in re-capitalising banks. My idea is for Government, rather than putting money into banks, directly purchasing the 80,000 housing units not sold.

Government pays builders at cost or below cost; Government re-sells houses to first time house buyers, at cost! First time house buyers obtain mortgage from banks on basis of cash returned by builders to pay off loans; it is imperative that funds paid by Government to builders can only be used to pay off debts to banks

Benefits:- puts cash back into economy - enables builders to pay off loans (at least something) - loans not paid off will be written off by banks and builders, so transparency in market of what is real and not real - capital goes back into the banks - capital then goes to first time house buyers - who pay government, which is then back to zero debt on this transaction - market is now back to equilibrium and can start anew - confidence at grass roots level gains huge boost

Construction

In relation to repairs and maintenance work required to houses of disabled and elderly persons, such work could be carried out by FÁS apprentices under supervision of FÁS trained instructors, especially for such persons who find it very difficult to meet the full cost of these essential repairs.

Also in relation to disabled persons and Essentials Repairs Grant Schemes as administered by local authorities, such schemes could be reviewed so that money allocated could be used more effectively and economically by introducing a scheme to be administered by local authority who would employ redundant construction workers on contract basis to help reduce the costs of essentials repair works to the homes of disabled and elderly persons in the county.

Construction

Why not create some engineering and construction jobs by having a private industry ‘company’ (not the OPW or any other state company due to the red tape it would generate!) to carry out surveying on the extensive old railway lines and bridges/canals/waterways, etc. that we have and turn them into cycle and walking paths for safe usage throughout the country ,hopefully, with a quick turnaround in the surveying and construction work and giving locals and tourists a safe walking and cycling network enticing more visitors to come to see Ireland.

E.g.: Old railway lines used for walking or cycling to Kinsale and West Cork would be a visitor attraction in itself especially if access from the cities was available. They could also be used by light vehicles for tours, etc.

Education

Instead of paying €50m per year to rent pre-fabs for schools, use this money to service interest on a loan of €500-700m to build schools instead.

This would drive construction jobs and use local materials (note that other capital programmes such as Metro will only benefit a small number of large firms and foreign manufacturers). It would also provide lasting benefits to children and Education.

Education

Instead of having an expensive private run crèche system we should look to build on the existing primary school infrastructure and cater for all children from 1 year old. This could be funded either by parents diverting their existing fees directly to the local school or trough the general taxation system.

I see a number of benefits. There is already a school eco system in place. They already have a high level of skill in this area. Allow parents to return to work. Create jobs. Allow for the better enforcement of standards. Ensure a standard early learning circular. Reduce the overall cost to the state by eliminating various supports.

Education

This idea relates to the rules for allowing unemployed people to return to third level education. Normally you have to be on social welfare for between 6 and 12 months to qualify for a back to education allowance. There was a recent decision to allow potential students to receive the back to education allowance immediately if they were made redundant.

This was a good decision as it allowed a great many people who were used to working and didn’t have a culture of collecting social welfare to quickly return to education, up-skill and hopefully be ready to return quickly to the work force when the upturn occurs. Unfortunately Social Welfare is adopting a very rigid view of the type of redundancy people have to have received; applicants have to have qualified for statutory redundancy etc.

So my proposal is that anyone who loses their job should immediately be supported and incentivised to return to education so that they can quickly retrain. The back to education allowance is the same as the social welfare benefits and the places are available in college so it should be largely cost neutral at worst and will probably save money if retrained people can go back into the work force more quickly.

* (This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons).

Green business

Switch out the lights, some of them. Clearly it would require good PR spinning, but significant expenditure could be saved by turning off public lighting on one side of every street, motorway, etc between, say 1.00am and 2 hours before daybreak each day.

Green business

Tidal Energy- Ireland has the opportunity to become a world leader in wave/tidal energy. We need to accelerate the R&D now. Funds from the NDP roads programme should be diverted here now. Benefits: Immediate job creation, long term jobs in maintenance underpins our competitiveness with low cost energy into the future. Reduce our carbon footprint.

Innovation

I would urge the Government to set up an Innovation Development Team. By this I mean a group where people/small business can go (in absolute confidentiality, and recorded to ensure no intellectual theft) and discuss an idea/invention that they think has genuine practical application.

It should provide free patent searches and patent of ideas to ease the process as many people with good inventions don’t have the finances, particularly at the moment, to pay for these.

Once an idea is established as having potential the Development Team should facilitate the inventor bringing the idea to market by arranging an introduction to an already established Irish company in the same industry to create a new business. In exchange this business would be jointly owned (in differing percentages depending on input) by the inventor, the Government (in recognition of their input and facilitation) and the existing Irish company.

In my view this process would harness a vast potential of the inventive nation that is Ireland, invigorating the country with a positive attitude, while simultaneously providing indigenous business with the means to create jobs via alternative future revenue streams.

The more ideas that could be patented with global applications while creating jobs in Ireland the better. Ideas that come to market would also ultimately benefit the Irish Revenue with profits from a share of the company, increased VAT through the product life cycle, and through income tax on the jobs that are created (not to mention savings on less unemployment benefits paid out).

Innovation

My idea is for the Government to adjust the focus of their small business support. (1) Currently most Government Business support, both start-up and ongoing, is Employment oriented, i.e. to qualify for support the business must create and sustain jobs. I believe this is in contrast to the purpose of a business, which is to generate sustainable profitable cash flow.

The best advice for a new/ongoing business is to minimise their costs, a major chunk of which is generally employees. In contrast, the Enterprise Boards encourage new businesses to create jobs in order to qualify for support.

(2) Currently most Government Business support, both start-up and ongoing, is financially oriented, i.e. they give out grants to new businesses. I believe the Government focus should instead be on mentoring. Rather than giving grants to new businesses, this money should be placed in a “Mentoring” fund. This fund would be used to provide a Mentoring infrastructure to support new and small businesses. Mentors would be provided at all stages of the business from feasibility to maturity.

* (This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons).

Innovation

Government official should visit colleges around the country and find out what ideas people have. There is a huge amount of creativity among students. They need to be advised and pointed in the right direction to maximise these ideas.

They might need to be put in touch with a marketing expert who will help promote their business and a Finance person who will give advice on how to fund it. In short, we need to utilise the skills that are out there but we need to find them and bring them together as suggested above.

Policy

Considering our dependence on imported energy - the long term solution will have to be nuclear energy. A firm policy stand must be taken to implement this technology - the building phase and operation will provide work and the use of this clean technology will provide the state’s energy needs - such as many other European Countries. Remember Ireland imports well over 80% of our energy needs- how long can this go on for?

Policy

Make IDA grants for people, premises, etc available throughout the country, not just in specific regions. As an employer, I can get grants if I move my business (which is a subsidiary of a US parent) to a different part of the country, but not if I want to stay in Dublin. Partly because of this, we have downsized significantly from the size of organization we were several years ago as more cost competitive economies win the jobs.

Transport

In 2007 sales of new cars were in the region of 150,000 units with a VRT take in the region of 1.6 Billion. Sales of new cars for 2009 are expected to be in the region of 50,000 units and it can be assumed that the VRT take would therefore be about 500 Million (or less if people are buying smaller or more economical cars due to the recession).

The government must now bring us a new budget which we all expect to be harsh, the loss of 500 Million in income is not large compared to the expected shortfall generally, it would be prudent to consider that there may not be a better time than now to drop VRT altogether. This would have several effects.

1) The motor industry in Ireland is in dire straits, dropping VRT would stimulate business in this important sector and possibly prevent a large number of job losses.

2) The reduction in the price of cars would be a big morale boost for the population possibly affecting their economic outlook in general.

The Ideas Campaign - latest sample of ideas received since campaign launch

Education

The Government should fund the education of Irish students at the best colleges in the world for the critical knowledge-based disciplines like engineering, design and science.

I have two friends who had to turn down the opportunity to study at Berkeley and MIT because of funding restrictions. The Government could fund these people’s education abroad on condition that they return to Ireland afterwards and help create knowledge-based enterprises.

Education

My company recently advertised a vacant position in the company. We were looking for an electronic engineer with fluent Italian. We only received two applications and both were from outside Ireland. This is probably not surprising since the vast majority of students in Ireland learn French, Spanish or German.

My idea is to promote languages more in schools, at both primary and secondary level. Many languages are similar so I don’t see a reason why schools cannot teach multiple languages to students during primary and secondary school as apposed to just one foreign language. Improved language skills would be a great advantage for Ireland in the globalised economy.

Education

We should encourage the recycling of corporate IT infrastructure into the educational system These days, the corporate world tends towards a three-year renewal cycle with IT infrastructure and most surplus IT equipment generally ends up in Africa or the Middle East for recycling and metals recovery.

My idea is that this hardware could be diverted into the educational system. This would result in schools having a much larger and wider base of hardware on which to gain experience.

Schools could also access a wider range of licenses for software, and - if you include the possibilities presented by various Open Source projects, such as OpenOffice, Linux, Eclipse, Moodle and so on - this becomes an even more cost effective proposition.

(This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons)

Green business

My idea is a tax relief scheme for investment in renewable energy companies. This would stimulate huge investment in the sector, and create a large number of sustainable jobs

There is in the region of €300 billion on deposit in Ireland at present and tapping into some of these funds through a ‘Renewable Energy Tax Relief Scheme’ would kickstart this whole industry.

Green business

My idea is a slight modification on the proposal (in Ideas batch to remove all VAT on insulation products.

My amendment is that there should be a 24-month period for VAT reduction on insulation products followed by a rise in the VAT charged on household fuel. This would concentrate the minds of householders, and builders would be encouraged to insulate houses to give a better rating.

Green business

The problem most often associated with wind energy is that people think that the turbines are unsightly and residents, who do not benefit financially from wind farms, often object. A way to reduce objections and expedite planning would be to get the community involved.

My proposal involves offering shares in each wind farm or single turbine to people actually living in proximity to the turbine. A 1.5mw unit will generate enough electricity to power approximately 1,000 homes.

The cost of a unit of this size is €1.2 million. So in effect 1000 shares could be sold at €1,200 each. With some tweaking of the concept, community buildings could be provided with free electricity by donating shares to them at no cost.

People would continue to pay their bills each month but they would receive a buy-back cheque (dividend) from the syndicate on a regular basis. This money could be offset against their bill. This clean energy would reduce individual house-holders’ carbon footprint by way of their investment and would help Ireland to meet its international obligations.

Policy

My idea is that Ireland becomes as well known for competitive venture capital rates as it currently is for competitive Corporation Tax rates.

Let anyone, from any country, who is thinking of starting a high-tech business know that Ireland will, if her experts consider the business worthwhile according to the usual rules of venture capitalism, offer venture capital at a fraction of the typical rate.

The conditions would be that the new company would have to base its headquarters in Ireland (not punitive considering our tax rates) and would have to agree to employ a certain percentage of its workforce in this country as well.

(This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons)

Retail

My idea is the launch of a ‘National Spend or Buy Day’ to get the nation spending again. A monthly ‘National Spend or Buy Day’ would help inject money into local economies and increase exchequer VAT returns.

People would be asked to buy something that they wouldn’t normally buy day to day or make a purchase they have been putting off.

The amount of money a person spends is totally at their discretion, so it could be €5 or €5000, whatever the person/family can afford.

It could be a meal out, an item of clothing, a treat for the kids etc - it doesn’t matter as long as additional money is spent in the economy on these days. Businesses could offer incentives such as discounts on products and services to ensure people are getting value for the amount of money they decide to spend.

Services (local)

A large proportion of drinking water abstracted and treated by local authorities leaks out through old and worn out piping systems. My idea is that we redirect resources away from building NEW water treatment works to repairing the existing systems.

The work is relatively labour intensive and will give the construction industry a boost. The longer term benefits will be to conserve scarce water resources, reduce the energy input in water production and, ultimately, help both the country and the planet.

Services (local)

There is an increasing amount of retail/commercial/services space under-used or becoming vacant in town centres and commercial areas all over Ireland.

In many cases, this space is owned by developers under stress or in administration by the financial institutions. In the same way that non-performing loans may be isolated in a toxic bank, could this property be administered by a ‘vacant property’ organisation?

My idea is that such property could be made available (on relatively short leases) to small service operations such as shoe repairers, furniture restorers, specialist printers, artists, craft food retailers, designers, dressmakers etc who currently cannot afford high street rents.

Local authorities would contribute by awarding rate free periods and insurance companies would offer reduced rates etc. The effect could be similar to the original Temple Bar where CIE offered short leases at nominal rents which then attracted a huge variety of creative activities and industries.

This approach would mean that towns and cities in Ireland would gain the creative and entrepreneurial mix Continental cities achieve through rent control/ public ownership and rigorous planning policies.

Sport

The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) was initially established as an independent Irish organisation for promoting athletics. Croke Park’s design has provision for an athletics track around the perimeter of the stadium so it would be great if the GAA utilised this opportunity to attract international athletic events to the capital.

Technology

My idea is an easy win to save money on the public sector phone bill by using VOIP technologies such as Skype or JaJah. Calls between Skype users are completely free and calls to landlines are very cheap (especially internationally).

The Skype software is free to install and they have business packages that should be suitable for government offices. JaJah is an even simpler system and is just as cheap as Skype.

Technology

Technology based start-ups have a problem finding people with the right skills, even today. At the same time, a lot of talent is in many cases under-utilised in the public services, Government research bodies and academia.

In the current environment, moving from public service to a start-up environment may be perceived as excessively risky. My idea is a career break for high skilled public/semi-state employees. Here is how it might work. Start-ups can register an interest in certain types of personnel currently employed as public servants.

If a match is made, and current employers agree, the Government agrees to pay 50% of salary for two years and the start-up finances the other 50% from its own funds/equity.

At end of two years, the ‘career break’ candidate is given the option of returning to the public service. The benefits of this scheme would include:

• the start-up gets access to talent that is currently effectively unavailable
• the start-up gets a subsidy at a critical stage
• the Government achieves necessary cuts while developing an economically critical sector
• the scheme could be implemented quickly, informally and cheaply

Tourism

My idea is that we develop and promote Ireland as a destination for equestrian holidays. Bodies like Teagasc, the AIRC (Association of Irish Riding Clubs) and the Irish Horse Board should develop packs for farmers, riding clubs and tourism businesses so that individuals and businesses can “join the dots” to expand equestrian activity both for foreign tourists and for Irish riders.

I believe that equestrian enthusiasts from Europe and further afield would be prepared to pay quite a bit for access to the best riding country in Europe.

Tourism

My idea has to do with themed tourism. Next to the Isle of Man, Ireland (north and south) has the world’s best motorbike road-racing heritage, but this heritage exists in an almost underground way. There is very limited promotion of it, and therefore little related tourism.

Strong tourism is increasingly about unique and memorable experiences. Motorcycle-themed tourism is both unique and memorable and has the potential to build strong repeat tourism business.

My idea is to properly market our bike road-racing heritage and to turn the major road races into much bigger tourist attractions.

We need to help the clubs that run the events, help improve the circuits, develop TV rights, and work hard on safety With the right approach, we can market Ireland as the home of the most exciting, authentic motorsport in the world.

Tourism

The exhibition and conference sector could make a substantially larger contribution to our economy now that the conference venue in the Docklands is about to open along with a new Exhibition Centre at Citywest. Places like Birmingham and Harrogate in the UK have turned themselves into international exhibition hubs that generate millions for both the local and national economies.

We now have the infrastructure, particularly around the Dublin area, to host these big events. Research from a few years ago (www.big.ie) highlighted that the business tourist spends in the region of 70% more per day than the vacation tourist.

Having ’sampled’ Ireland, many business tourists could also return to Ireland in a tourist capacity bringing friends and family. All of this will create real jobs, real growth and a positive impact both direct and indirect to our economy and country.

Transport

Many airlines flying to/from the US cannot afford to purchase landing slots in Heathrow, so Shannon should offer free or minimal landing charges to encourage transatlantic airlines to use Shannon

The Ideas Campaign - the latest sample of ideas received since campaign launch

Agriculture and food

I suggest that Irish farm cooperatives should form partnerships with similar cooperatives in France to exchange and market each other’s products e.g. French cheese and wine, Irish lamb, dairy products etc.  This could involve just one cooperative in each country or a group of cooperatives.  Obviously, partner cooperatives would not have to be in France but could also be in another Member State (Italy, Spain, and Greece whose products would be less like those in Ireland).

Agriculture and food

Ireland is known for its hospitality, and its food.  Encourage Hotels/B&Bs etc to source ingredients locally (funded by re-directing subventions paid to farmers, and re-positioning tax breaks given to hotels).

Dual benefit - Farmers are paid to produce food that is actually being used (as opposed to butter mountains etc), hotels etc can sell the “Still made here”/”Healthy Food” angle.  Money is being spent locally, with economic multiplier effects, the importance of the tourist (both Irish & international) is reinforced through each community, government & European grant money is spent more effectively.

All island economy

My idea comes from France, where it has been used to great success in the last years:  Reduce the VAT rate down from 13.5% to 5.5% (supply and build) and from 21.5% to 10% (supply only) for all home improvements in houses that are more than 2 years old.

This would encourage home owners and landlords to do work such as new floors, new wallpaper, new kitchens or bathrooms, new extensions or attic conversion, new landscaping, new boiler, energy saving installations…    This would benefit a huge number of retailers, small builders, tradesmen and help retain many jobs.  It would also convert into more spending into other sectors by all those who benefit from this measure, and generally boost confidence and morale in the country.    The loss in VAT on each purchase would be easily compensated by a greater number of operations and the saving of jobs.

Education

Decentralisation was a mess.  Lack of infrastructure and services did not entice City folk away.  Now is the time to acquire a land bank and plan infrastructure and this should be done in one or two locations.  Consider in 10 years time an alternative administrative centre with a university and world class hospital, where property, school places etc are affordable.  It needs to be central with transport links including quality trains to Dublin.

The solution is to centralise a number of government departments outside Dublin - in the Midlands - and to plan for it now - taking advantage of the downturn to utilise the best creative and planning resources for a world class future avoiding the traffic, embedded thinking and cumbersome problems we have seen in Dublin for the last 15 years.

Education

Build a Science Museum in Dublin

My suggestion is that we invite a developer to set up a consortium of developers and voluntary construction teams to plan and build the museum.  Innovators and thinkers from universities and schools of technology, right down to community wizards, could collaborate on exhibit design.  Fund-raisers could devote their skills free of charge to publicize the museum, to pay for building materials and labour.

This project could be completed by the Dublin City of Science Year, 2012 which is under the direction of Professor Patrick Cunningham, Chief Science Adviser, Forfas.  This endeavour would demand expert organization, resource identification, and would need to appeal to the public imagination in order to deliver a first class publicly built, public-involved, public designed, science museum.  Exhibits would illustrate and clarify difficult concepts deriving from biology, chemistry and physics, as well as from engineering, environmental science, and finance.  Who could resist an interactive exhibit which reveals how ATM machines work.

(This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons)

Green Business

In waste treatment plants throughout the country, if pig slurry was added it would generate gas that in turn could be used in generating electric, which could then be sold to the national grid or used by the local authority. The dry material left over after this process could be given back to the farmers and this could be spread instead of the slurry, thereby ensuring that no slurry would end up in the water courses.  I actually saw this process on television years ago in Holland where 70% of a town energy was generated by the slurry.

Innovation

Let’s aim to convert our weaknesses into strengths.

Weakness: We are a small open economy, largely trading in dollars and sterling
Strength: We are part of a union of nearly twenty countries that trade in the Euro, the largest and richest economy in the world. Let’s learn from our farming sector and start spreading our wings a bit more.  Why try to attract Americans and English people who are currency sensitive when we have hundreds of millions of fellow Europeans for whom currency is a non-issue?

Weakness: We are largely monoglot. (The Germans will sell to you in English but you need to sell to them in German)
Strength: Let’s put a real programme in place to become as polyglot as the Dutch within 10 years.

Weakness: Our tourism offering is too American/Anglo focussed, seeking low volume, high spend customers.
Strength: Let’s put a programme in place to ensure that we have a range of tourist offerings that are less weather dependent, such as walking, fishing, bird-watching, music and dance etc - thereby ensuring that we get the volume of tourists in to enable us to become competitive price wise.  We are seen abroad as the “Green Island”. It’s a great start.

(This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons)

Policy

Many state bodies pay high rents for office space in Dublin City.  Instead they should buy vacant property and move to offices they own, instead of paying rent, and help stimulate the economy in this way.

Policy

A complete re-structure of both the Seanad and the Dáil. Holland with a population of 18 million has 150 politicians between their upper and lower parliament.  Reduce the number of Senators and TDs, restructure the electoral areas along the lines of the provincial system

Policy

I am a GP. For years the HSE have been saying we need to prescribe cheaper drugs etc but they make it very difficult to do so. It would be so simple if we could all just prescribe generic drugs instead of brand names. Currently if I want to prescribe co-amoxiclav, an antibiotic, I can prescribe augmentin, the original drug and most expensive brand or I can prescribe branded generics such as clavamel or germentin. However to do this I need to be aware all the time which is cheapest and this changes all the time.

I think we should all prescribe plain co-amoxiclav and the pharmacist should be obliged to dispense the cheapest generic. This happens in the UK where no one would dream of prescribing augmentin because there are several cheaper alternatives, Also clavamel and germentin are made here by Irish companies so this would help the economy too.   I think the government has been afraid to implement this as it receives millions in taxes etc from the big drug companies and doesn’t want to rock the boat with them.

Policy

My Idea is to offer people the option to work while receiving the dole. My husband is unemployed and he would rather do anything than sit at home doing nothing. Ask employers to register to take on a recently unemployed person for a limited amount of hours a week. They could say what they require and what they will offer in terms of training in return. The unemployed people could not only learn new skills but could bring new skills to the company.

Local authorities could also provide positions for people, as could TDs and Councillors, schools, churches, voluntary groups and hospitals. People who take up the option to work for their dole could be rewarded by not having to queue to sign on.  We absolutely must keep people working and feeling useful. Long-term unemployment is crushingly depressing and the longer one is unemployed the harder it is to get back into the work force.

Policy

Eliminate the Sunday/weekend premium in the hotel industry. This is a premium on staff when we are at our busiest in the week and makes weekend operations unprofitable especially in food operations.  Hotels are struggling at the moment and if wages could be slightly reduced it would give a great help to the industry at a time when with the recession, falling tourist numbers, along with increases in rates etc the hotel industry is on its knees in many parts.

Policy

A skills bank could be set up on a local level i.e. villages, small towns. Each skills bank would consist of unemployed people with a particular skill or trade that could be used locally, from making footpaths to clearing litter (work that local councils can’t get to) and even down to finishing off houses that that are incomplete. The advantage of registering for skills bank could be an additional 10% or so payment on to of social welfare/jobseekers allowance. Every field from accounting to zoology could be tapped into and used to save skills.

Policy

People on job seekers’ benefit/job seekers’ allowance are discouraged from starting a business as they lose all their benefit if they become self employed. It would promote start-up businesses if recipients of JSB/JSA could start a business and if they earn anything make it deductible against the JSB/JSA rather wiping it out immediately.  This means that every bit they earn is a saving for the exchequer. If they manage €50/week for the first few weeks they are no worse off for trying and the exchequer can save some money.

The current system where they lose all benefit if they become self employed discourages them from trying. This is especially the case for JSB which is received by people made redundant and may not actually need it they payments (e.g. spouse may still be working) they maximise the payout by not becoming self employed until the benefit runs out. They are effectively being paid not to try starting a business.

Policy

The Government should set up a specific website, like the US Government has done at http://www.govdeals.com/eas/ to sell off Government surplus stock, and items seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Services (local)

Two of my relations needed crutches after operations.  As far as I can make out they paid a nominal sum to the hospitals for these.  It seems that there is no follow-up to get the crutches back for re-use so my suggestion is that the HSE have drop off points for people to return such items for re-use. Saves money as not so many new items would have to be purchased and most people do not want these items cluttering up their homes anyway.

Social and voluntary

Set up a copper campaign.  In many homes - in drawers and glass jars - lie forgotten copper coins which if collected would come to probably over 100 million euro.  This money could be collected at local post offices or news agents for a small fee .The money would be used for the most vulnerable of our society in Ireland. It would used as an on going basis.  Don’t let those coppers lie there lets get them to work

Sport

Ireland should bid to host Euro 2016.  The European Championships are such a wonderful occasion and I’m sure any country snaps your arm off for the opportunity of hosting it.

Croke Park and the new Lansdowne Road would be the two main stadiums.  After that you can take your pick from the following stadiums: the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, the famous Thomond Park, Pairc Uí Chaoimh in Cork, Semple Stadium in Thurles, Pearse Stadium in Galway, Clones, Castlebar, Nowlan Park in Kilkenny, Portlaoise, Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney. A certain amount of work would need to be done on each of course but not as much as you’d think either.

The second point is that we might not have the infrastructure to handle such an event. Of course we do and again whatever improvements need to be made, we have still have 7 years to do them. If we need more hotels, a better road or rail network we should build them and when the tournament is over and the whole country has gotten rich off the back of it, we would still have all this fantastic infrastructure in place which would attract investment into the country for years to come. The Olympic effect they might call it.

As a venue, Ireland would be an amazing place to hold the tournament. It is actually a beautiful country with very friendly people who love having a laugh. Essentially this is true even if we forget it sometimes. I’m sure our European cousins would be totally psyched at the idea of spending their summer holidays road tripping around Ireland following the footy. Plus Ireland is so small that once you get here it wouldn’t involve too many long trips.

(This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons)

Tourism

Give all EU citizens free travel in Ireland for a trial period of 3 months to see whether it helps the tourism sector.  This should not only apply to bus services in the cities but main line train and bus services as well.  If there are concerns regarding peak hours have it only available in non peak hours.

Technology

Google, according to the front page of today’s Irish Times, is sending 5 cars with cameras on their roofs to record “streetscapes” for addition to Google earth and Google maps.  This will allow for people to virtual tours of streets in towns and cities of Ireland.  The cameras will pick up details of shop fronts and displays in windows etc.

If each business prominently displayed the business web address (website location) boldly on windows or door name plates, free advertising of that business would ensue and potentially generate extra “after hours” or international inquiries. So… start displaying your web addresses and watch for the Google cameras as they drive around capturing your details!

Technology

Texting on mobile phones is an extremely popular means of communication. Very often too the full capacity of the text “space” is not used. i.e., some messages like “c u @ 9.” leave a lot of unused characters/space on the screen.

The technology would allow for the use of this unused space and I think it could be arranged to have an additional template embedded in it e.g. the owner of the phones email or web address.  Accordingly every time you sent a text you would be advertising, at your discretion, information on your business to the recipient of the text.  In short, the unused element of the text would be used to impart some other information, embedded in the text that might generate further enquiries or economic activity.  Mobile phone companies should be invited to offer such a service.

Transport

A couple of years ago I visited Ciampino Airport in Rome. The Airport is a Civil & Military Airport. I think this approach would work well in an Irish Airport.     My idea is to move the Irish Air Corps to Shannon Airport and to free up Baldonnel to be used as a commercial airport (perhaps a ‘low-fare’ airport) to attract tourism and appropriate airport dependent businesses into the area. (The road & rail network is close by too!)

This could create a catalyst or stimulus for major (privately funded) construction and infrastructure projects in west Dublin/Kildare. Some of the financial benefits could be earmarked for the Dept. of Defence budget.    This would also create a significant stimulus in the mid-west area and support the future of the airport/ regional development. It would appear to me that there are natural linkages between the notion of a military presence at Shannon and the fact that the airport already houses the US home land security pre-immigration service, Irish Coast Guard, etc.

Transport

Why not build a four lane bridge from Ireland to Wales, the building creates jobs, the maintenance creates jobs, creates jobs in customs, security on both sides.  It speeds up delivery of goods from one country to another; no plane costs, no shipping costs, no waiting around for the truck to be loaded up etc.

The toll would say be €12 and €10 of that is divided evenly between countries with €2 being used for maintenance. It’s 64 km from Dublin to Wales.   To summarise it, cuts cost for travel for ordinary people and business creates jobs in both economies both economies will benefit from money regains tourism industry will grow as it’s easier to come over and leave

(This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons)

The Ideas Campaign - latest sample of ideas received since campaign launch

All-Ireland economy

The concept of an all-island economy is great, but the reality is different. My idea is that we need to rationalise some of the State agencies founded as a result of the Good Friday agreement. Tourism is an obvious case in point.

There are no fewer than three agencies promoting tourism for a very small country. This causes great hilarity abroad.

Tourism Ireland seems to be doing a great job marketing Ireland internationally and marketing it as an all-island destination. Yet Failte Ireland and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board are effectively in competition with each other for the home market.

They’ll say otherwise, but you only have to listen to the ads to know that this is not the case. Merge the tourism bodies; ensure greater accountability for what they do and more creativity in how they use their marketing budgets.

Construction

My idea is that the ‘locals only’ planning rule that is in force in some counties be relaxed for a certain period. This would create building jobs and inject some badly needed cash into local economies.

Education

Secondary school pupils should be exposed to innovative and creative use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) through workshops which are interesting and enjoyable and which could spark an interest in technical/scientific subjects at third level.

These workshops could be supported by sponsorship from the large IT companies who are seeking graduates. I have worked with the B2C project (http://www.suas.ie/b2c.html) in Trinity.

While Suas works primarily with disadvantaged schools, the facilities and programmes have been attended by students from ‘mainstream’ schools also.

I have seen the enormous talent and ability shown by participants. This talent needs to be fostered for the future. The model of learning in this programme can and should be extended to the schools.

Education

Foreign language education should start in primary school at senior infants. Children have a great capacity to learn new languages at this age and we should waste this opportunity.

Mandarin Chinese and Spanish are the two languages that should be offered. The focus should be on spoken language only until secondary school, and the priority should be to make learning the language fun.

Education

Make ‘Running your own Business’ or ‘Setting up Your Own Business’ an optional or even compulsory module for all Transition Year students - it could even be incorporated as an optional add-on for third-level degrees. The reason I am suggesting this is after watching my daughter’s experience with a ‘mini business’ module during her Transition Year.

Because of this module, she learned more in four months about business and personal development than I have learned in 50 years. Also, they sourced raw materials over the Internet, stayed up late printing T-shirts, made a profit, had fun and she now says she’d have no worries whatsoever about setting up or being part of a company.

My husband and I come from families who earned their living through jobs. Our daughter’s experience broke through this into the new world of entrepreneurship. She would never ever have done this if it hadn’t been mandatory for Transition Year students in her particular school.

Green businesses

In the summer we still tend to put the boiler on for a while to heat the water, to wash the greasy saucepans etc. Why not consider using the principle behind the electric shower for the supply of hot water in the kitchen?

The rationale behind the electric shower is to provide hot water on demand without having to run the boiler first. Why not the same for the kitchen sink?

Insert a tap with a heating element that works on the same principle as the electric shower, i.e. only heating the exact amount of water you need exactly when you need it. No wasteful heating of a full tank of water.

I’m not sure if the sums add up, but maybe it’s worth a look for some budding entrepreneur.

Green business

My idea is to utilise a resource that we all produce - domestic waste. My understanding is that this is currently shipped to China for recycling.

Given the availability of employees, land and cheap industrial space in this country, would it not make sense for the Government to fund and support an Irish recycling industry?

I appreciate that this has to be done on an industrial scale to be cost efficient but WHY NOT? We are perfectly situated to tap into the British and mainland European markets. Irish people have really embraced the idea of recycling and a greener future for our country - surely there would be great enthusiasm for such a project.

Green business

All petrol cars can now run on E85 (ethanol), once fitted with a conversion kit. However, for cars registered under the older system of road tax (pre July 2008), the charge is based on the engine size.

I feel the NCT should be able to test pre-2008 cars fitted with an ethanol conversion for CO2 emissions and the road tax should then be calculated under the current system of CO2 emissions.

Some experts say that E85 can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 70%. The upcoming Budget is an ideal time to implement this change. Motorists would be encouraged to change to a renewable, more environmental friendly fuel. It would also have the benefit of creating work in the NCT and for the local mechanics who would fit the conversion kits.

Ethanol can be made in Ireland from whey, a byproduct of milk, so this may also help stabilise the recent dramatic fall in milk prices for farmers.

Green business

Remove all VAT on insulation products. This will increase the likelihood of people insulating their homes/businesses. I am not referring just to tradesmen that insulate, but also the DIYers. The costs would not be high to the Government and the benefits would be enormous.

There would be increased business for manufacturers and hardware stores. Secondly, people would be more comfortable and energy efficient in their homes/businesses. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the Government would not have to waste taxpayers’ money on buying carbon credits on the open market.

Green business

A €1 levy should be charged on all plastic/glass bottles - from the smallest to the tallest. They have a similar idea in Switzerland where you are charged an extra 50 Swiss cents when you buy a bottle of lemonade etc.

When you return the empty plastic container to the shop, you get your 50c back and the shop returns the bottle to the recycling company for it to be used again. This is a clever way of getting people to recycle their bottles.

It makes people more aware that they have to recycle, reducing landfills etc and it creates employment in recycling.

Innovation

My idea is to establish Idea Management Systems in public and private organisations throughout Ireland.

Each year, Toyota’s employees implement 1.5 million ideas that save the company over $300 million annually. Inspired by this, a decade ago the Chairman and CEO of Dana Corporation (an auto industry giant in the US) asked his 80,000 employees to submit two creative ideas per month and implement 80% of them. A cultural transformation began, and for over 10 years Dana’s employees implemented about two million ideas per year, saving over $2 billion.

Beginning in 2001, using the same process, Technicolor in Detroit with 1,800 employees generated 20,000 ideas, implemented over 7,400 of them, and saved the company over $10 million within a year.

(This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons)

Innovation

Why not follow on from the Ideas Campaign and set up ‘Inventors Clubs’ across the country? These could be in the form of ‘One Stop Shops’ or support/networking groups where budding and experienced inventors can exchange ideas, form alliances, provide guidance on patents etc.

In short, use the vast innovation base that is the public. It would help increase Ireland’s international profile in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Pharmaceutical / bio pharmaceutical / medical devices

My idea is that we should promote Ireland as the country with the least red tape for the biotech / pharmaceutical / biopharma industries where time to market from R&D is crucial in getting the highest return possible on investment. An extra year on market ahead of the competition goes a long way.

Policy

Set up a website to provide comprehensive information on healthcare options, with the principle aim of reducing unnecessary healthcare visits, particularly to A&E, and improving efficiency.

This website would act as the first point of contact for anyone considering using health services, by directing them as to which service they should use (GP/Health Centre/A&E etc), where they can find it (embedded Google Maps), how it is paid for (including info on medical/GP cards, health insurance, direct payments), and when they should visit, including opening hours and graphs of historical activity.

The latter is important because if people can see that they’ll need to wait eight hours on a Saturday night but one hour on a Sunday morning, they’ll tend to make better decisions about the urgency of their own case.

The website would also include general medical advice on subjects such as quitting smoking, eating habits, pregnancy, fitness, etc. It might also (for example) discourage an otherwise healthy adult with a bad cold from going to the doctor; explain why antibiotics are useless for colds and flus; indicate which minor ailments would be appropriate to simply ask a pharmacist’s advice.

I’d suggest the very successful www.citizensinformation.ie as a model for this site.

(This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons)

Policy

Adjust planning policy to give priority to businesses sited in public areas such as city parks, national parks, sea fronts, city squares etc. In most continental European cities, public areas such as the above have an abundance of commercial cafes, bars, shops, ice cream stands, restaurants etc.

As well as providing jobs, these improve the amenity value of the area by providing an alternative way to enjoy the surroundings, and are particularly convenient for tourists.
I can see two general approaches to encouraging this type of development.

Firstly, local authorities might plan and commission the construction of premises, and retain full ownership. This would require less start-up capital from potential businesses. Alternatively, they might designate the areas as a new type of planning zone, and encourage interested parties to apply for permission to construct premises to be sub-leased. The two approaches are not exclusive.

Technology

The Government should focus on strategies that will foster the creation of native technology companies, and keep them rooted in Ireland until they become global players rather than getting bought out.

Numerous things could be done to encourage technology start ups. The risks to entrepreneurs should be lowered wherever possible. After all, these people employ the rest of us at great financial risk to themselves.  (The few that receive great reward should be incentivised to hire even more of us or fund/advise more start-ups.)

For example: if an entrepreneur goes out of business, especially after having paid employees for years, s/he should be allowed to claim social welfare before selling his/her home or business fixed assets (which might help restart a business at low cost).

Protect the primary home (but not the fancy car) from creditors, especially when this was the entrepreneur’s residence before starting the business. Publish rules as to how and when bad credit histories can be wiped clean. Many successful entrepreneurs are those who learned from failure. It’s in the economy’s interest that people be given at a second chance.

(This idea is very long and detailed and has had to be edited for space reasons)

Technology

Technology transfer professionals and commercialisation specialists always talk about the benefits of clusters (areas where a nucleus of skills can develop, e.g. Galway for Medical Devices).

I have spent some time looking at business opportunities out of the Tech Transfer offices in universities and the ITs, and feel the problem we have in Ireland is a lack of clustering of entrepreneurial talent to bring innovative ideas to fruition.

The solutions to this involve simplifying the IP (Intellectual Property) process, widening the net on innovations beyond VC (Venture Capital) and helping the third-level institutions understand and put a value on entrepreneurial experience.

Most importantly, groups and clusters of entrepreneurs need to coach and mentor the potential third-level spin-outs into understanding where their inventions and innovations can deliver real value to potential customers.