Vote of no confidence.

I'm not so confident in the opposition either, but at the very least Brian Cowen should take over as Taoiseach for the sake of Irish politics. People are cynical enough about politics! At least if we get rid of Bertie we can have a few years without corruption hanging over the government. Until Cowen has to appear before a tribunal that is, as is the Fianna Fail way........

nyarlothothep wrote:

Things might improve if there was a general political mobilization of the people.

How would you go about doing that though? You'd first need a wide range of policies which would appeal to your target population, with enough appeal that it won't piss off business interests and those with a lot to lose from radical reforms.

Next you'd need to get your faces into the media, which is an expensive process. You'd either need independent financing or some sponsors with deep pockets, which again goes back to policies. And again, you need to have a support base before doing that, which is hard to get without media coverage, in a catch-22 situation.

Once you have policies, a party structure, a support base, and regular media coverage, you need to actually get into power. Actually on the whole, its not too hard a process. Find a sponsor or two, political and legal experts, a marketing team, and away you go. If it was up to me, I'd enact the following reforms:

• More stringent controls on the banking and financial sector to prevent them throwing money at people who really can't afford to pay it back.
  
• Anti property investment legislation, as was recommended in the Bacon report (actually implemented but cancelled due to a shortage of housing stock at the time).
  
• Much tighter control of the civil service, in particular the health service, with wide layoffs and pay freezes until they are on a par with the private sector, pension reform also.
  
• Sweeping reforms of the outdated armed forces in Ireland, with a focus on smaller, better trained and equipped groups, and a considerably enhanced naval and air profile. The days of the mass army are long gone, and if its not effective, remove it. Yes I know Aegis cruisers cost a fortune, but you only need to buy them once every 50 years.
  
• Enhanced support for entrepreneurs and small business people, with low interest loans and favourable grants for that purpose. And a branch of the government whose sole purpose it is to help them market and sell their product internationally and nationally.
  
• Much higher government investment in local industry and technology - open an Irish built car manufacturing plant for example, or make boats our speciality, this is an island after all. There are also exciting things being done in the field of renewable resources and biotech, automation, the list is endless. This is also where you can put your recently fired/retired civil servants.
  
• Reforms of the police and prison systems, making them better equipped but fewer in numbers, and a real alternative to the failed prison system we have currently in place, focused on proper rehabilitation.
  
• A review and reform of border controls and immigration.
  
• A foreign policy focused on trade and the exchange of raw materials and ideas with other nations, in particular poorer countries (a la what China is doing right now), leveraging our favourable position within the EU, which offers free access to a market of a half a billion people. As it is most of our foreign policy is flogging faith-n-begorrah.
  
• A minimal taxation policy.
  
• Loosened local intellectual property laws, which have historically lead to massive advancements in technology whenever it occurred (see again China and in fact the US around the turn of the last century).
  
• Reforms of the agricultural sector, focusing on better returns for the effort put in, and specialised food crops.
  
• Complete educational reforms, and a much larger investment into the educational system. I don't mean by this more pay for teachers, I mean more teachers, more schools, and the latest cutting edge equipment in schools and universities.
  
• Strong anti corruption legislation, mandatory end to end financial transparency for all public servants above a certain level, and using the new ubiquity of the internet to allow the general population to have more of a say in local government.
• Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure.
• Much development on the process of teaching the Irish language, and the focus on Irish culture in general. Particular emphasis would be placed on the works of people like Jim Fitzpatrick.
• Support for the concept of a united Ireland, but passive support only. If the people of the north vote to rejoin the south, they are more than welcome.

Now thats an Ireland I'd like to live in.

Don't think the average man really cares too much about all the goings on in the past weeks as long as the country's going well. Bertie is a very likable leader. A big sports fan. I can relate to him a lot more than most of the politicians.

I think most people would be thinking(most ordinary people, not the yuppie's) ok he did wrong, country's going well, as long as he doesn't do it again fair enough.

the_syco wrote:

Pretty sure that state back companies getting free advertisement is against anti-sompetion laws.

Anti competition laws don't prevent any amount of free advice though. Are grants anti competition as well? How about low corporate tax rates? Should we close down Enterprise Ireland?

the_syco wrote:

I always giggle when I read this.

Well, I didn't neccessarily mean a health farm now, did I?

the_syco wrote:

Wouldn't that f**k over our farmers?

Farming in this country is a complete write off as it, for the most part. Its only kept as war proofing, and farmers earn their money from subsidies, not profits. Same with a lot of first world countries really. I was referring to raw materials such as ore and stuff you can't get locally, however.

the_syco wrote:

This is taking the piss, now. Lots of reforms, with less money to do them with.

With 20% of the population employed in the civil service, you'd save most of your tax bill with the other reforms I mentioned. We can start with €200,000 a year consultants and work our way down.

the_syco wrote:

You mean encourage state-sponsored piracy?

In the sense of swashbuckling bandits, no. In the sense of an environment where the free exchange of ideas and inspiration is in place, yes. The term piracy has been bandied about heavily by certain vested interests of late as well. All I can say is, that is how the US, Japan, and now China got their industries off the ground.

the_syco wrote:

This is simple. Increase the mimimum percentage that farmers get from their produce. Anti-competitve, though.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

the_syco wrote:

There are less teachers, as it's not a job people aim for anymore. You want more people, you have to offer an incentive. Also, teachers face a lot more bad behaviour these days, with no ability to combat it.

Well, lets include those issues in the reform package! Also, last time I checked, teachers had a pretty good deal: good pay, long holidays, gold plated pension, and they can still receive their pay and have their jobs held for them if they run for political office.

the_syco wrote:

Just with less tax, yes?

Strip down the civil service and armed forces, put them into profitable businesses, and you'll have all the money you need.