Mark Ryan, PricewaterhouseCoopers; Tina Roche, Member of the Advisory Group and CEO of Business in the Community; Aoife O'Brien, KPMG; Louise Shorten, Ernst & Young; Peter Fitzgerald, Deloitte; and Anne Marie Boyhan, Ideas Campaign

Four accountancy firms are to provide research and evaluation expertise for the ideas submitted to the Ideas Campaign.

The Managing Partners of the firms - Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC - agreed within 24 hours of being approached to provide assistance to the campaign, following the Advisory Group meeting last Tuesday.

Each firm will provide dedicated staff to summarise, categorise and provide an initial review and assessment of the ideas submitted for this citizens’ campaign.

They will work to the criteria for evaluation that has been set by the Advisory Group and which will put the ideas received into four categories:

1. Ideas for action by Government
2. Ideas which could be implemented by

• Voluntary organisations
• Individuals
• Entrepreneurs
• Existing or new companies

3. Ideas that could be implemented through existing organisations, companies and individuals and which, if publicised, could enhance confidence
4. Positive ideas about the existing strengths of the Irish economy or society which could be used to counteract the negative image of Ireland, nationally or internationally.

Closing date

The closing date for the submission of ideas to the campaign website is next Tuesday, 31 March.

The Ideas Campaign is a campaign for citizens by citizens and is designed to harness people’s ideas for economic recovery. The campaign runs for the month of March and to date over 4,000 ideas have been received and over 42,000 people have visited the site.

The campaign plans to produce an action plan for government in April. Taoiseach Brian Cowen has committed to fast-tracking the recommendations from the Advisory Group through the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Economic Renewal.

The Ideas Campaign announced the members of its Advisory Group tonight, and details of how ideas submitted to the campaign team will be evaluated and presented in the campaign’s action plan to the Government.

The Advisory Group comprises leading figures from business, policy, academia, economics, the arts and the voluntary sector.

They will provide strategic advice to the campaign and help shape the action plan.

The Advisory Group members are:

• Moya Doherty, Producer of Riverdance, the world-acclaimed theatrical phenomenon
• Sean Gallagher, Chief Executive, Smarthomes (and Dragons’ Den judge)
• Frank Gormley, Chair, Howard Eurocape and Founder St. Patrick’s Trust
• Alan Gray, Economist, Indecon
• Paul Mooney, President National College of Ireland
• Kieran McGowan, former Chief Executive of the IDA
• Ian McShane, Chief Executive, Behaviour & Attitudes
• Paul Rellis, Managing Director, Microsoft Ireland
• Tina Roche, Chief Executive, Business in the Community
• Don Thornhill, Chair, National Competitiveness Council

Campaign Director Aileen O’Toole said: “We have assembled a first-rate team of innovators, creative thinkers and high achievers.

“They all share the belief that the Ideas Campaign can act as a catalyst for positive, practical solutions that can benefit the Irish economy and help lift the nation’s spirits.”

The Advisory Group believes that it is important to re-emphasise that this campaign is happening against the backdrop of a serious economic situation and a crisis in the public finances.

The Ideas Campaign is focusing on ideas for economic renewal and recovery, but the Group believes it is important for citizens to understand that ideas put forward to Government must be realistic and achievable.

Procedure for reviewing ideas

The Advisory Group has agreed the following procedure for reviewing ideas received.

1. The campaign team will review all ideas received by the IdeasCampaign website.
2. A sample of these ideas will be published each working day until 31 March when the campaign finishes. This sample will show the diversity of the ideas received. Ideas will be edited by the campaign team for length, and legal considerations. No confidential data will be included. The Ideas Campaign stresses that inclusion on the website does not indicate that an idea will be included in the action plan.
3. An external team of experts will review and evaluate ideas for their relevance to economic renewal and recovery.
4. The expert analysis will be presented in draft form to the Advisory Group when it meets in April.
5. The Advisory Group will consider this initial analysis and propose changes and the roadmap for delivery of the action plan to Government.
6. The Advisory Group will sign off an action plan based on the final approved analysis, and make proposals to Government on implementing the action plan.
7. The Ideas Campaign action plan will be presented to Government.
8. The campaign website will be the primary forum through which the campaign will update citizens about the action plan.
9. As indicated by An Taoiseach Brian Cowen in his statement last weekend, the Ideas Campaign action plan will be “fast-tracked to the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Economic Renewal for assessment and implementation, where appropriate.”

Traffic and activity on the Ideas Campaign website has exceeded all expectations since the campaign was launched last Thursday (5 March).

There have been 18,787 visits and 1,742 ideas logged on to the Campaign’s website up to midnight last night. More than 500 of those ideas were received in the last 24 hours alone.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen has endorsed the campaign and detailed what he plans to do with the action plan which will be produced in April: This independent and non political campaign provides the ideal channel for those ideas. “I will ensure that ideas emerging through the screening by the Independent Advisory Council overseeing the initiative, will be fast-tracked to the Cabinet sub-committee on Economic Renewal for assessment and implementation, where appropriate.”