The Ideas Campaign has received ideas from as far afield as Afghanistan, China, Canada, Ethiopia, and Montserrat in the Caribbean.
The campaign also has a worldwide Twitter following, from California and Vancouver to the Netherlands, Turkey, Australia, Athens and the UK.
One tweet came in Spanish from a person in the Canary Islands saying that they could do with an Ideas Campaign there. It was followed by an email with the subject line “Fantastic Campaign and can we borrow it in Scotland?”
Phase two of the Ideas Campaign was launched this morning following a huge response by citizens to create ideas for Irish economic renewal and recovery.
A total of 5,284 ideas were submitted on our website between the campaign’s launch on 5 March and last night (31 March), the deadline for this phase of the campaign.
Traffic to the website approached almost 48,000 visits during the same period, with a typical visitor spending approximately 4.5 minutes on the site.
International interest in the campaign is also now considerable and represents 17% of traffic.
Policy, education, environmental initiatives and tourism were the top categories for ideas submitted. Three out of four ideas logged from overseas came from people born in Ireland.
Action is the theme of phase two of the campaign, which involves:
“This is the start, not the end of the Ideas Campaign, which is independent and non-political,” said Campaign Director Aileen O’Toole.
“The response we have received shows that Irish people are creative, resourceful and want to focus on solutions to the economic problems.”
An expert Advisory Group has started the process of evaluating the ideas received, while four accountancy firms (Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC) are assisting the campaign team to review and evaluate the ideas submitted.
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
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.
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:
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.
The Advisory Group has agreed the following procedure for reviewing ideas received.
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.”
Day one of the Ideas Campaign has drawn a huge response from the citizens of Ireland.
The campaign website met with an enormous response after its launch on RTÉ’s Prime Time last night, when more than 2,100 visited the site between the end of the programme and midnight.
In less than 24 hours of the site’s launch (up to 6pm today) 453 people submitted ideas and one in five submitted more than one idea. Around half of those also sent messages of support and a further 189 also sent messages of support through the website contact form.
Campaign Director Aileen O’Toole received over 200 messages of support to her own email address and to her mobile phone and other members of the campaign team also received personal messages.
The Ideas Campaign has published a sample of the messages on the site today, which we believe gives a true sense of what the citizens of Ireland feel about the issues in this campaign.
Campaign Director Aileen O’Toole gave a series on media interviews on RTÉ, the new station 4FM and on other media. The Internet community in Ireland are being especially supportive, offering free advertising positions and prominent editorial support on from the time that the website went live. Activity on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter also grew throughout the day.
Twelve people, many of them unemployed, contacted us today offering their services for free. A number of companies also made contact offering free services.
The Ideas Campaign has decided not to publish any ideas until next week. Aileen O’Toole explained: “This campaign has to be transparent and credible from the outset. We need time to review the ideas received and ensure that we do not raise any unrealistic expectations before they are put into the public domain.”
“We plan to work in a similar way as an editor of a reputable newspaper, like Geraldine Kennedy of the Irish Times, operates. She and her staff receive many ideas for stories each and every working day. But if those ideas were not properly assessed to match the excellent reputation that the Irish Times enjoys then the newspaper’s credibility would suffer. That is the standard we hope to emulate with The Ideas Campaign.”
“This is a grassroots, low-budget campaign. We expect to make mistakes and if we do I will be the first to admit it.”
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