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.
Tags: ideas, Ideas Campaign
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