Thank you for your messages of support to the Ideas Campaign - we have received hundreds since the campaign was launched last night. Here is a brief flavour of them…
This is a fantastic concept. It was so refreshing to hear a little bit of optimism and positivity! I really hope this campaign is successful in generating real solutions for digging us out of this recession.
- James
Well done, we need more positive people around. As a nation we are always good at helping others, so let us all look out for each other now. (A SMILE is very infectious.)
- Carole
Your campaign is the most singular positive thing I have seen on the television for a long, long, time. I wish you the very best of luck with the campaign! Only a female brain could come up with this idea.
- Geraldine
I think this website is a great idea, people are frustrated. But we’re not down and out, there is loads of business being done every day. People are prepared to pull together. In a couple of years we may look back on this recession as being a positive catalyst for change, back to a more sustainable and inclusive way of life.
- Graham
Go h-iontach ar fad! Fair play to you… what a brilliant idea… and it WILL work. I will post my own idea shortly as it is just been hatched at present! Good luck and keep up the good work.
- Mary
It was so wonderful to hear someone being positive in the midst of such doom and gloom which is beamed into our living rooms hour by the hour these days. I felt challenged to stop myself from adding to these voices - to stop the whinging and instead to add my voice here- to use my creativity and find new ways of working with others that contribute to making Ireland a better place to live in. I will write more about how I might do this in the coming days.
- Toni
We have just created Why Not, a local not-for-profit organisation with a mission of getting people involved in their community through different projects, particularly cross-generational. We cannot look to others (the government) to take care of us and others. We must all become participants and watch out for each other. The name is taken from the quote by George Bernard Shaw: “Some men see things as they are and say why. Others dream of things that never were and say why not.” Our first project is Dundalktv.com. This is one of those times that “We the people” (I am an American, part of the returning Irish after 3 generations) need to take matters into our own hands and hope the government stays out of our way. Thank you for this forum
- Tom
Just saw you on Prime Time. Most optimistic person I have seen for months. Been out of work for 2.5 months and struggling to think of an idea. Know I have to do something different to get me out of the hole - just hasn’t popped into my head yet. Volunteered today at least it’s a start. When I get an idea I will put it on your website. Thank you for giving people hope.
- Annette
I caught Aileen’s contribution on Prime Time last night and I just had to leave a message! It is just wonderful to hear such optimism and excitement about our current situation. Optimism as the belief is out there that we can and will weather this storm if we all pull together, and excitement about the opportunities that are now presented to us all as a nation. I thought since January that I was a voice crying in my own personal wilderness regarding the opportunities that the current phenomenon now presents Ireland and the world at large. The ‘Yes We Can’ attitude that President Obama has brought to the USA can be spread here. In some instances and some businesses we have a wonderful opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start again. An opportunity to find better and greater ways of doing business is now there for us all to grasp and run with, because in reality the world society - I think - is going to change now and we are going to have to bring a more humanistic approach to how we do business and how we treat each other. Never has there been a better time for all people on this planet to pull together. But let’s start small. Ireland has nothing to lose now. Let us be the forerunners, the thinkers of Europe, the ‘fire-starters’! With the Ideas Campaign we have one runner out of the blocks. I am going to do my bit in my workplace to get an internal Ideas Campaign going to get a bit of motivation on the floor to get the business in the door. I am only small, I am at the bottom, but from little acorns might oaks do grow. Thank you Aileen for the inspiration!!!
- Gill
It’s a great idea to use the Internet to bring people together now. There’s so many frightened people out there, locked into their own anxiety. This will give hope, and hopefully ideas! Congratulations.
- Joan
Hey really great idea, I’m only 16, but I like your positive outlook. Great to see people like this in this country.
- Conor
I watched Aileen O Toole a couple of months ago on prime time and she inspired me. I was lucky enough to see her again last night, I love to be with optimistic people and she is certainly that. She speaks from the heart and if she is a leader within IC well that is the type of leadership qualities that this country needs “NOW” I look forward to speaking with her soon.
-Richard
I think this is an excellent idea and I believe the potential is there for it to have a real impact.
-Maurice
Finally, some sunshine on the horizon!
-Loraine
When I saw it on prime time, I felt excited about this idea because I believe there are many people out there with great ideas and this is just the way to find them. Well done.
-Mary
Mark Twain once said that … If I were required to guess off-hand, and without collusion with higher minds, what is the bottom cause of the amazing material and intellectual advancement of the last fifty years, I should guess that it was the modern-born and previously non-existent disposition on the part of men to believe that a new idea can have value.
-Christine
Well done and wish your campaign every success as the first step in regenerating a sense of community and common purpose forgotten during the boom.
-Mel
This is the start of the next boom, it’s simple offer businesses or the public a way of saving money in an efficient and professional manner and you’re on your way to being a millionaire.
-Andrew
As said in the first text box, great idea for a website and best of luck!
-Matt
It’s a great campaign. I am fed up hearing doom and gloom. We so need cheering up. Its spring time - the daffodils are up - and there is so much good about if we just make a big effort to see it. Thank you for starting this!
-Joan
Completely love your attitude its where its at you would not believe this but I thought of your idea also but delay but I didn’t follow through that’s the difference as Billy Connelly said on TV tonight you have to be a bit mad a little!
-Ultan
Well done keep up this campaign.
-James
Fair play to ye…I was just about sick of the negativity!! Thu, 3/5/09 10:56 PM
-Ruth
Tá smaoineamh maith anseo agaibh. Tá an tír seo lán le daoine go bhfuil samhlaíocht acu ach in amanna tagann an leisce sa bhealach ar smaoineamh maith a fhorbairt. Go n-éiri go geal libh leis an bhfeachtas, tá spiorad an dóchais laistiar dhe agus is tuilleadh de sin atá ag teastáil. Ní fada go mbeidh muid ar an mbóthar ceart eacnamúil arís!
-Vincent
Great idea. We badly need to take back control of our affairs. The government is clearly unable to run the place.
-Frank
Fantastic idea, at last something positive is being done.
-Brenda
Great ‘idea’…like lots of others. Luckily you are ‘high profile’ people, so are much more able to get something off the ground than the likes of myself. Well Done.
-Alan
This is a comment on your classification. I find it insulting that I am defined by my current employment status or lack thereof.
-Sandra
Let’s get the country moving.
-Paul
After watching Prime Time tonight, Aileen’s positive approach has reinforced my beliefs that we are an innovative nation and can evolve. It is refreshing and welcomed and has my full support.
-Gillian
Well done on this initiative and I was reminded of this quote when I saw your initiative launched on Prime Time In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.
- Eric
FANTASTIC…. Keep it going…especially the no whinging element.
-Mary
Head up arse down, we are all in this together.
-Gerard
I think what you are doing is great. I am fed up with whingers.
-Julie
I think this is a good idea. I hope it is real.
-John
What you are doing is fantastic and exactly the kind of thinking I had .I’d love to get more involved and help your excellent idea. Very, very well done. Keep it going and please let me know what I can do to help.
-Sharon
Great idea of web site -time to really look hard at all aspects of our life and what we want from it - this web site will go some way towards achieving this.
-Pat
Go n-éirí go breá libh!
-Antaine
Together we can make a difference…. keep up the good work!
-Ciara
As a serial entrepreneur I have raise funds for many businesses. However companies who have the ability to repay are finding it hard to get the banks to lend for even small growth. It appears that the solution to growth is with the entrepreneur, indigenous our otherwise. If the banks are not willing to lend then the government (who cannot force them to as a private entity) they can provide a support structure to open the flow of funds to those who need it
-Gerard
I love the ability to be able to put in a box out of the box ideas.
-Gerard
Great idea, long overdue - every idea if action will help the economy - keep up the ban on whingeing. No Blaming, No Excuses, No Denial - just ownership, accountability and responsibility.
-Derek
The idea of the campaign is great-well done.
-Desmond
I think we need to focus on the positive. We are a great nation!
!!!!
-Brendan
This is a fantastic idea - there are so many good ideas out there waiting to be recognised - keep up the good work.
-Richard
Aileen, well done for setting up - no whingers - just solutions!! Cheers.
- Johnny
This is an excellent idea. Vastly too much gloomy information is being circulated and the politicians are too busy sniping and making points against one another. Let’s talk about what can be done, discuss it sensibly find the best ideas and let’s get on with it. I like it.
-Tom
Great idea, Aileen - best of luck!
-Fiona
This is a brilliant idea and I wish it every success.
-Tina
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