Ideas to make 3 billion rather than cut 3 billion.

drunkmonkey

Everybody seems to be talking about cuts in this and that. Why is nobody coming up with Ideas to make more money?

I understand there are savings to be made across the public service which should be done regardless of if were in a crisis or not.

I'm just going to throw out 1 idea out there for making more money and it could easily be branded as a green initiative.

There are 6.5 million newspapers sold around the country per week. If we increase the price of every newspaper by 1euro per copy that will generate extra revenue of €338,000,000 per year.
I don't have the figure for Magazines but we should include them as well.

Well that's one of my ideas but were still about 2.5billion off the mark, anybody else got some suggestions? The less painful the better.

Idbatterim

one of the quickest I could think of would be offering free or subsidised flights into Ireland for stays of x days or more (atleast 5) They must be return and booked outside the state. Promote this heavily abroad. For example say you offer to pay any airline €50 per person per flight. You could also then partner up with hotels or car hire companies, that would offer discounted prices for people involved in the scheme. Id imagine the Uk and Europe would be the best places to target initially. Given how close they are and the already cheap airfares. From further afield, maybe a higher subsidy could be given.

28064212

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Everybody seems to be talking about cuts in this and that. Why is nobody coming up with Ideas to make more money?

I understand there are savings to be made across the public service which should be done regardless of if were in a crisis or not.

I'm just going to throw out 1 idea out there for making more money and it could easily be branded as a green initiative.

There are 6.5 million newspapers sold around the country per week. If we increase the price of every newspaper by 1euro per copy that will generate extra revenue of €338,000,000 per year.
I don't have the figure for Magazines but we should include them as well.

Well that's one of my ideas but were still about 2.5billion off the mark, anybody else got some suggestions? The less painful the better.

Well for a start, you can write off, at the very least, half of that €338m, because people will simply stop buying newspapers. Then there's the fact that the newspaper industry will scream bloody murder because you're targeting an industry that's already on it's knees. I can guarantee it will cause numerous publishers to just shut up shop, because there's no way they can survive on half their readership, so that's another couple of companies that won't be paying tax anymore. Not to mention their employees, who won't be paying tax and will now need to be paid dole. Suddenly that €338,000,000 figure is not quite so rosy.

If it was that easy to just make money, we'd be doing it. Not to mention the fact that the public sector needs to drastically improve its efficiency regardless

mikemac

I never had an issue with the 1c surcharge on text messages.
Quite simple, people can easily understand it.

The mobile companies have sophisticated billing systems.
Shouldn't be an issue for them to pass on the cost to customers and then submit to collected amount to Revenue.

zielarz

Your ideas are ludicrous. Stop taxing people, produce something!

mrgaa1

How to make €3billion:

Where does the money from the national lottery go? Can it be used to fund government projects? Can we remove all the scratch cards etc..... so if there is just the number selection game is left can we then add ONE new game (excellent prizes and many of them) where all the monies (profit) go to the government - lets say this is done for the next 5 years.

Tourism - absolute certainty to make money but this relies on keeping high number of visitors and low costs. Isn't it better if 4 tourists bought a 3 course meal as opposed to a 2course meal. They don't at present because the 2course is too high. Isn't it better that 4 tourists purchase 8 drinks instead of four - but they won't because of the current price.
Its not what the tourists do when they are here - its also what they say when they go home. So those who are good at marketing and tourism need to take charge.

Putting people back to work - when people are in work they feel better and are more likely to spend. So job-sharing should be introduced in jobs where this will work. Get approval from EU to put aside 1billion euro to create jobs in tourism.

Corporation tax - not sure what can be done here but a lot brighter people than me can maybe suggest what to do with it

Housing - we have a HUGE over supply of housing. However when houses are sold they need furniture and bits n pieces. This drives other parts of the economy producing more flow of cash. I suggest that each county is given a per square foot price and that excess houses are sold at that amount. For example - Monaghan €8.5 per sq ft Meath €11 per sq ft ( only examples ). Also if houses are defaulting through developers etc... demolish them and the government keeps the land. Perhaps more demolishing than selling :eek:

Farming, construction are two of the most labour intensive industry's in Ireland - stimulation of these will create jobs, thus creating well being, cash flow but more importantly it will create a better outlook from across EU.


Banks - Banks must start lending or at least giving business's reasonable overdraft and lending levels so as to allow business's - good business's the opportunity to look at expanding - particularly into other countries

Government - We don't need a general election - it will only cause so much turmoil and even less will get done. Personally a coalition with a leader from neither party should be put in place. Perhaps the president can be the leader (don't know the constitutional workings). We need someone who the public can trust and follow. We need to pull together NOW and one voice. No slagging, no point scoring. A united front will bring everyone together - put in place public reform etc... and move on.

Cookie_Monster

how about cut 3bn abd raise another 3bn. The deficit is enormous, I really can't understand why they are only aiming to cut 3bn out of it instead of 12-15

drunkmonkey

When people leave there mobile phone network and still have some pre pay credit left that they normally just loose it and the network pockets it, that money could be given over by the networks instead of the 1cent text charge.

Number Nine

ZIMBABWE 100 TRILLION DOLLAR BILL
https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/232488/127557.jpg

Coillte_Bhoy

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

how about cut 3bn abd raise another 3bn. The deficit is enormous, I really can't understand why they are only aiming to cut 3bn out of it instead of 12-15

Are you seriously suggesting cutting 12/15 billion in one budget?? It coudlnt be done without totally wrecking the economy.

johnnyskeleton

28064212 wrote: »

If it was that easy to just make money, we'd be doing it. Not to mention the fact that the public sector needs to drastically improve its efficiency regardless

+1

What we need to do is stop trying to come up with some harebrained get rich quick scheme and focus on reality.

Like the flora add - some people think that all cuts are bad. Rubbish.

Public cuts are good. The country is spending too much AND prices are too expensive.

Cuts to public sector and dole will help lower costs thus increasing the incentive to job creation here. Nothing else will do.

I should repeat that, just in case it is not clear. The ONLY way to get productive jobs in Ireland at present is to allow costs to decrease. There is no other option. None.

And apart from the other points made by 28064212 about how your plan will not work, on a basic level what exactly do you mean by putting €1 on a newspaper? Do you mean a special €1 tax on the physical newspaper? What about online newspapers? Don't you think you're discriminating against a specific sector? Finally, how is increasing the tax (because that is what you are suggesting) on a newspaper any different to increasing the tax on income, vat or whatever? You're still taking more money out of people's pockets (assuming they still buy the papers).

You must realise that you can't magic wealth into the economy with the stroke of a pen. You have to create it by actually doing something completely new that's of value, or doing something that's already there but better, cheaper or more efficiently.

johnnyskeleton

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

Are you seriously suggesting cutting 12/15 billion in one budget?? It coudlnt be done without totally wrecking the economy.

We're rapidly approaching the point at which cutting any less is what will totally wreck the economy.

With the increased borrowings and interest rates this year, we are almost running to stand still with the paltry €3bn cut. Unless it is more, we will just need an even greater cut next year, and the year after and the year after (if there is a year after).

Cookie_Monster

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

Are you seriously suggesting cutting 12/15 billion in one budget?? It coudlnt be done without totally wrecking the economy.

not as much as defaulting will do and the subsequent fall out

Coillte_Bhoy

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

not as much as defaulting will do and the subsequent fall out

In your opinion. But seriously are you suggesting a cut of that size and how would you do it?

R P McMurphy

A large part of the problem is that people are holding onto money. Taxes went up last year but not substantially. People working have not been affected greatly, a reduction in the wage packet has occured but not as badly as I expected. I think there is certainly more room for increased taxation but this could prevent the flow of money so perhaps what is needed is a substantial overhaul of dirt tax to ensure that money flows out of savings accounts

Cookie_Monster

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

In your opinion. But seriously are you suggesting a cut of that size and how would you do it?

ok so maybe not to that scale realistically in one year but it needs to be over 5-7 range.
Many things that should be cut won't be really.
Child allowance is 2.5 bn-ish at least 1 of which could be saved by proper means testing I reckon
A lot of the capital roads budget can be cut for a few years as the huge fall in volumes makes many of these project un-needed in the short to med term.
Rent allowance is another one that needs severe restructuring, the gov control about 50% of rented properties and are creating an artificial floor to rents, costing it a small fortune.
Public sector pay really needs to be looked at at more, at 20bn+ a year we simply cannot afford to sustain it, something there needs to be cut out or reduced regardless of the ridiculous Croke Park agreement.

Coillte_Bhoy

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

ok so maybe not to that scale realistically in one year but it needs to be over 5-7 range.

Isnt this going to be the case though?

Nijmegen

Considering that this year the interest payments on our debt will eat up 16% of all tax - around about the entire corporate tax take - and we still have a massive gap between the cuts and the spending.

So next year, and the year after... Even if our debt interest comes down, we're looking at heading over 1 in 4 euro's of tax being spent simply to service the debt. It's like Africa.

As for tax increases, they don't raise the headline amount as government is only going to steal from one hand to give to the other - cut out €100,000,000 and you will likely see a fall in VAT receipts somewhere else, for example, and a loss in economic activity that that free market money would have spurred on... Etc.

You can tax and give benefits in a fairer way, but you can't expect to tax your way through our kind of a budget shortfall.
'
We're a household that has had a wage cut. Time to cut back to store-brand products and do without the Friday beers.

johnnyskeleton

R P McMurphy wrote: »

A large part of the problem is that people are holding onto money. Taxes went up last year but not substantially. People working have not been affected greatly, a reduction in the wage packet has occured but not as badly as I expected. I think there is certainly more room for increased taxation but this could prevent the flow of money so perhaps what is needed is a substantial overhaul of dirt tax to ensure that money flows out of savings accounts

What is your source material? There were statistics published last year, but deeply criticised on this forum, which suggested that the savings rate in the country had increased dramatically. However, it was not a reflection on reality because most of the increase had come from institutional hoarding (i.e. banks, as opposed to people, saving), debt destruction, write off and repayments and other technical adjustments (not least of which was the massive decrease in incomes skewing the figures).

DMW has recently cited statistics which suggest that homeowner savings have dropped dramatically i.e. your average joe has less savings than he did before, which I think is closer to the reality.

In any event, I suspect that all these statistics are put out to push one agenda or the other. However, what people fail to realise is that savings are necessary. Both to the economy and to people.

Saying people should go out and spend is an empty phrase, because what people really should do is save.

People like you who advocate increased savings tax are making a big mistake - if you disincentivise saving in a bank too much then people will take their money out, put it under the matress and there will be little the government can do to stop the banks finally collapsing.

ParkRunner

Here's my idea.....

Have an attractive redundancy package in the public sector but split the redundancy over two years. Half the first year, half the second year. If after one year they are in private sector employment or they have setup their own business and are employing at least say 2 workers then they get the 2nd half of the redundancy. If not, they don't get the second payment. (I'm public sector btw).

Tax take would increase, expenditure would drop and it would be a fairer and more common sense approach in my opinion.

Godge

Idbatterim wrote: »

one of the quickest I could think of would be offering free or subsidised flights into Ireland for stays of x days or more (atleast 5) They must be return and booked outside the state. Promote this heavily abroad. For example say you offer to pay any airline €50 per person per flight. You could also then partner up with hotels or car hire companies, that would offer discounted prices for people involved in the scheme. Id imagine the Uk and Europe would be the best places to target initially. Given how close they are and the already cheap airfares. From further afield, maybe a higher subsidy could be given.

Ryanair would love this. Free profit from the Government. If the government will subsidise €50 for each return flight, they will push up the average flight by forty euro and pocket that as profit. No real net increase in visitors but a large increase in Ryanair profits.

How do you stop this? Not easily with Ryanair's variable pricing policy.

Stinicker

I agree with promoting Tourism heavily.

I would also like if they brought in an Advanced Driving Licensing system which would allow better drivers (with decent cars) to drive faster on our motorways for instance at 150km/h instead of a paltry 120km/h.

Legalise and regulate Prostitution, the worlds oldest profession will never go away, legalise it and tax its earnings. This will give protection to all involved, provide regular health checkups for the workers and the tax income would go to the Government instead of organised crime.

Liberalise gun laws, but tax them, you will find it to be a nice little earner for the state.

Recycling Tax, spring a 20 cent tax on every plastic and glass bottle in the country, refundable when recycled. Knowing the lazy people here it will rake in money. Eco-benefits too.

Increased packaging tax also.

screamer

Raising taxes and prices is not the way to do it, the more people have to pay, the less they want to spend.......Let's outsource our prison service, send all of the long terms away to somewhere cheaper, California, for example, cost 11K euro per year per prisoner, now here, it costs about 77K euro........ 66K per prisoner saved...... and it would be a nice dis-incentive to them re-offending.

timespast

I think tourism should be concentrated on.

However, flight prices do not need to be brought down....airport charges certainly do.

I was in Dublin a few times up to May and I nearly fell off the bar stool while checking out their menu prices......

Irish Stew....... (Cheap stewing beef with a few vegtables thrown in) €21.95
Bacon & Cabbage € 19.95

I forget the rest but along the same line.

I can go to the UK and believe me it's more than half price.

Meet any tourist and they want a pint of stout....what do we do.... any tourist spot we charge €4 - €5 !

If you want a spirit with a coke or 7 up etc..... yeah, let's charge €2.40 for the mixer....... in the UK they'll give it from a cooler/tap.

Don't the Govt. / Bar / restaurants realise they go back to where they come from and tell their friends etc....its outrageous!

In the UK all forms of Museums in the UK are free.......let's get them in because they have around €800-€1500 to spend? Which means 21% goes to the state.

You'll rip a tourist off once....seldom twice.

tommy21

screamer wrote: »

Let's outsource our prison service, send all of the long terms away to somewhere cheaper, California, for example, cost 11K euro per year per prisoner, now here, it costs about 77K euro........ 66K per prisoner saved...... and it would be a nice dis-incentive to them re-offending.

With our weather?! My god man do you want to send our crime rate spiralling?! The criminals will flock to Cali like the taoiseach to a pint.

sheesh

What about decriminalising some drugs and taxing them.

drunkmonkey

sheesh wrote: »

What about decriminalising some drugs and taxing them.

Was thinking of it but it won't work, there worth more money to the economy if they stay illegal. There also providing a lot of Jobs, there must be 50,000 + working in the industry at the moment, we don't want them to be fully unemployed as hard crime levels could increase rapidly.

bbam

screamer wrote: »

Let's outsource our prison service, send all of the long terms away to somewhere cheaper, California, for example, cost 11K euro per year per prisoner, now here, it costs about 77K euro........ 66K per prisoner saved...... and it would be a nice dis-incentive to them re-offending.

Or we could just spend €11K on the f@ckers here, let them live in their own sh1te... Now that would deterr them from re-offending.

Senna

I started a thread on this a good while ago.
Small things will all add up, we need billions, but just because some ideas are small fry shouldn't mean there ignored.

Things like paying farmers not to use land, rapeseed oil can be grown and used in biodiesel (which can be used as home heating oil [with some mods]). Hemp is another product that will grow and has viable uses. There's probably better examples.

What about introducing personalised car registration plates, plenty of people still have money, and it could be a nice earner for local councils. Most people wouldn't bother, but the people who have money will.

Tourism needs to be developed, ignoring prices, the country only attracts people for history and natural beauty. The culture has been lost, other counties "play up" to what tourists want, we have shunned it over the last 20 years.
I've said it before, a huge indoor theme park could attract Europeans all year round.

feicim

A few ways for the government to raise funds.

1. A tax on energy resources that are taken from the oil and gas fields off the west coast of ireland. There are potentially hundreds of billions of euros worth of gas/oil in these fields.

2. get our exclusive fishing rights back for the atlantic and promote a renewed fishing industry.

3. With a global food crisis on the cards does it make sense for us (EU) to be paying farmers not to use their farms to produce food?

Fishing and farming and the spin off (food production and packaging) from same would create jobs.

timespast

feicim wrote: »

A few ways for the government to raise funds.

1. A tax on energy resources that are taken from the oil and gas fields off the west coast of ireland. There are potentially hundreds of billions of euros worth of gas/oil in these fields.

2. get our exclusive fishing rights back for the atlantic and promote a renewed fishing industry.

3. With a global food crisis on the cards does it make sense for us (EU) to be paying farmers not to use their farms to produce food?

Fishing and farming and the spin off (food production and packaging) from same would create jobs.

1. Couldn't agree more.....what exactly is the state getting out of it at the moment?

2. That won't happen...... people are beginning to realise once we become net contriburors to the EU there's not much in it for us..... most of us (incl. politicians) aren't in the EU on idealogical grounds.

3. Yep, it's a joke. How about paying the farmers to grow the food and shipping it to the 3rd world instead of large cash grants for weapons.

28064212

Senna wrote: »

I started a thread on this a good while ago.
Small things will all add up, we need billions, but just because some ideas are small fry shouldn't mean there ignored.

But ideas should be ignored if they are pointless. Take, as an example, the reg personalisation. I have no doubt some people will buy them, maybe (optimistically) a couple of thousand. Might bring in two or three million in income.

Now, how much will it cost to set-up that system? It'll need a new department in the Vehicle Registration Office, a couple of new employees (keeping in mind that this is the public sector, we can't just re-assign people from other areas). Various staff overheads, computers, lighting, heat etc. There's the actual physical manufacturing of the plates themselves, and even if it's passed on to private companies, they'll be cutting into the profits available. We'll need to change the computer software in every system that records registrations (tax, NCT, gardaí systems etc). And then of course, we'll have to actually change the legislation governing licence plates, which takes up government time while they debate it, and then it needs to be actually drafted, which requires lawyers and judges. All the "Rules of the Road" books and anywhere that sets out the law regarding plates needs to be reprinted. Suddenly that 2 or 3 million isn't looking too significant.

All these "initiatives" to raise money cost huge sums to actually set up and run. Unless there's some huge pot of gold we're sitting on that can be accessed with ease, we can't just hope to fund-raise our way out of debt, especially when it's much more efficient and better in the long-term to remove inefficiencies and wastage in the public sector

tommy21

feicim wrote: »

A few ways for the government to raise funds.

1. A tax on energy resources that are taken from the oil and gas fields off the west coast of ireland. There are potentially hundreds of billions of euros worth of gas/oil in these fields.

2. get our exclusive fishing rights back for the atlantic and promote a renewed fishing industry.

3. With a global food crisis on the cards does it make sense for us (EU) to be paying farmers not to use their farms to produce food?

Fishing and farming and the spin off (food production and packaging) from same would create jobs.

But why would the government do something like this when it would mean confronting the rich and powerful, when they can just raise income taxes and cut the services and welfare of the passive people of Ireland.

1. These have been sold already, or at least the known reserves as far as I know.

2. Irish waters are almost fished-out, if they had any sense (not the fishermen but the government ten years ago), they would have forseen this and put in place some sort of plan to restock.

3. Not sure on this one...

Nijmegen

Many of the ideas - for example the eco-tax on plastic bottles that they have in many other countries - are not big money spinners. They are designed to change behaviour, and generally people don't like it either if the tax they pay, for example, for recycling goes to be spent on something else.

I think you also need to weigh every last penny you take out of the economy, considering that one of our core problems is a lack of consumer spending. We need people to spend more of their cash, which puts it to more productive use than taxing that money.

If you increase taxes by 3bn you don't really get 3bn, because that money comes out of the productive areas of the economy leading to job losses, and other taxes lost (eg. VAT.)

If you cut 3bn you are also taking money out of the economy, but you are not (generally) robbing from yourself elsewhere to the same degree. A PS worker going on the dole is a cost reduction, wheras a private sector worker is a cost increase, even when tax, VAT etc, is weighed in.

Of course you might also make 3bn in other ways, such as making up efficiency. The OECD also reckons that in a lot of countries like ours you'd be looking at a 13%+ black economy under normal conditions, that could be better taxed. (This I heard during a discussion on Channel 4 last night re: the UK tax system.)

Stabshauptmann

drunkmonkey wrote: »

There are 6.5 million newspapers sold around the country per week. If we increase the price of every newspaper by

A 50% tax on the independant media? :eek:

Care to share with us the newpaper price elasticity data you, obvioulsly, researched?

Stabshauptmann

feelingstressed wrote: »

Shouldn't be an issue for them to pass on the cost to customers

Congrats on being the first out of the trap [sic].

Very simply, if you increase the price of a product or service, the number of people who buy that product/service decreases. As a result the merchant receives less income.

There is no way of passing a cost onto the consumer, because the higher cost results in fewer sales and less revenue for the merchant.

Pharaoh1

Lots of talk on this thread about the potential of agriculture as a sector to generate exports wealth etc..
It is true that we are already world leaders in certain areas. For example despite our small land area we are the no. 1 European beef exporter and no.4 in the world. There is without doubt potential to increase this - lots of older less productive farmers who could be more incentivised to pass land on to younger entrants etc... Interestingly many of these incentives have been scrapped in recent budgets

The other major problem is that agriculture is broadly speaking not a profitable business in this country (see Teagasc figures). Effectively 1990 prices and 2010 input costs. It continues because of its special status as a "way of life" for many who survive on either EU subsidies or off farm income or both.
This year has seen a huge jump in the number of live cattle exported at the expense of jobs in the processing industry as the economics of carrying these animals through to slaughter don't add up for the farmer. Rather than progressing and adding the value at home we are going in the opposite direction.

The growing energy crops would take off if it were profitable. At the moment it is simply too risky and is undertaken mainly by large wealthy landowners who can afford to take a punt and are not too bothered about losing money or being left with a crop they can't sell.
A privately owned generating station close to me is offering a per hectare contract for willow but the price is attracting very little interest from the locals.

maninasia

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Everybody seems to be talking about cuts in this and that. Why is nobody coming up with Ideas to make more money?

I understand there are savings to be made across the public service which should be done regardless of if were in a crisis or not.

I'm just going to throw out 1 idea out there for making more money and it could easily be branded as a green initiative.

There are 6.5 million newspapers sold around the country per week. If we increase the price of every newspaper by 1euro per copy that will generate extra revenue of €338,000,000 per year.
I don't have the figure for Magazines but we should include them as well.

Well that's one of my ideas but were still about 2.5billion off the mark, anybody else got some suggestions? The less painful the better.

This is pure genius, make an expensive product that is already reducing sales twice as expensive..it's gotta work I tell ya!

Idbatterim

http://www.spiritofireland.org/questions.php

this was hyped when it was first mooted. We could stop paying billions to import fossil fuels, export the power and sell it, start our own electric car company. the effects of this on employment and the sentiment of the country and the possibilities it would open up are unbelieveable! The amount of jobs, both direct and indirect that could be created, would be unreal.

Idbatterim

also see:

http://www.spiritofireland.org/questions.php

http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/168432

mike65

Anyone mentioned the procurement process?

http://www.audgen.gov.ie/ViewDoc.asp?DocId=-1&CatID=5

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0915/breaking49.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0915/breaking53.html

http://www.examiner.ie/breakingnews/ireland/almost-45m-spent-on-zombie-sites-473709.html

A member of the Dail commitee for same was just on Matt Coopers show talking about a proposal he will be publishing in the next 10 days which will look to cut costs by 10% which would save 1.5 billion per year.

Idbatterim

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0301/1224265371780.html

Forget all the Nimny ****, if this is viable it should proceed asap!

pete_mcs

Ireland has a rep for being a green country and we need to use this to our advantage.
1) We should produce only organic high quality food for the exports market. People are willing to pay more for these products and the goverment will benefit from the export taxes.

2) Green tourism, all be it our crap weather may not help this, but we have the perfect country for eco-tourism, ie hill walking, treking, mountain biking etc. With very little investment we could produce and maintain multiple world-class trails that will attrack many. First as already mentioned our cost to tourists needs to be radicaly reduced!

3) Green Energy, may come to a big shock to our leaders, but we are surounded by water, that has waves, that can be turned into electricity (after a initial investment) and sold across the EU. Also the wind is always blowing here in the west, we should have wind farms on every hill in the west, and this "free" power source sold across the EU.

4) The HSE is a disaster, and will take a bigger brain than mine to sort out, but sorting it out is a must. Its a black hole that absorbs our taxes for very poor returns.

5) Social welfare payments should only be awarded for a short period of time after the person becomes un-employed, they should not be available for everyone always. A check-in service and job help service should be available to all the un-employed. Spent a year unemployed, FAS are useless, actually worst than useless!

pljudge321

pete_mcs wrote: »

3) Green Energy, may come to a big shock to our leaders, but we are surounded by water, that has waves, that can be turned into electricity (after a initial investment) and sold across the EU. Also the wind is always blowing here in the west, we should have wind farms on every hill in the west, and this "free" power source sold across the EU.

Europe's nuclear plants make any of these "renewable exports" ideas financially unviable.

irishh_bob

pete_mcs wrote: »

Ireland has a rep for being a green country and we need to use this to our advantage.
1) We should produce only organic high quality food for the exports market. People are willing to pay more for these products and the goverment will benefit from the export taxes.

2) Green tourism, all be it our crap weather may not help this, but we have the perfect country for eco-tourism, ie hill walking, treking, mountain biking etc. With very little investment we could produce and maintain multiple world-class trails that will attrack many. First as already mentioned our cost to tourists needs to be radicaly reduced!

3) Green Energy, may come to a big shock to our leaders, but we are surounded by water, that has waves, that can be turned into electricity (after a initial investment) and sold across the EU. Also the wind is always blowing here in the west, we should have wind farms on every hill in the west, and this "free" power source sold across the EU.

4) The HSE is a disaster, and will take a bigger brain than mine to sort out, but sorting it out is a must. Its a black hole that absorbs our taxes for very poor returns.

5) Social welfare payments should only be awarded for a short period of time after the person becomes un-employed, they should not be available for everyone always. A check-in service and job help service should be available to all the un-employed. Spent a year unemployed, FAS are useless, actually worst than useless!

most consumers are not willing to pay higher prices for organic food , i was in the uk last weekend and stayed on a farm B+B one of the nights , the farmer and his wife told be they were only getting 3 pence per litre more for organic milk than the regular stuff , i doubt irish consumers are any different , the reality is that most people are cost conscious when it comes to food

bamboozle

Idbatterim wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0301/1224265371780.html

Forget all the Nimny ****, if this is viable it should proceed asap!

this is where we need to focus, govt needs to bring in several measures now to reduce our requirements for fossil fuels being imported.

on an industrial scale per the attached article

then on smaller scales, grants/tax breaks should be given to hotels/gyms/schools/hospitals/industry to fit solar panels/wood pellet boilers as primary sources of heating & hot water.
Sustainable Energy Ireland grants should be increased focusing once again on forms of renewables being incorporated into domestic heating & hot water requirements
the above suggestions would be a much needed boost to construction sector while also reducing our imported energy requirements.

a boost to the motor industry by drastically reducing VRT on electric/smart cars or cars with engines of 1.2L or less, hike up VRT on SUV's to discourage their use. Reduce motor tax, road tolls for electric/smart cars to further encourage their use.

Current birth rates in Ireland are 17 per 1000 as opposed to EU average of 11, in 4-5 years unless something is done very quickly our schools will be drastically overcrowded. Govt needs to act now to prevent this from happening

over the past 10 years Bertie's mates have been getting between 40-90million a year thru renting prefabs to the state as classrooms for kids. This needs to be stopped and top class educational facilities need to be built to cater for the surge of school places that will be required in 4-5 years.
all this building work will once again be a huge boost to construction industry, new schools should be fitted with Geothermal heating, wood pellet boilers, solar panels to ensuer minimal requirements on fossil fuels.

Any news jobs created in Ireland, employers should be exempt from respective PRSI and any other applicable levys.

Tourism - govt should subsidise flights into Ireland from America, Asia, New Zealand and Oz, to attract tourists here, these tourists will stay for longer given the distance they'll travel and will spend more.

Farming - grants to be provided to encourage a move to organic farming. We cant rest on our laurels as being top quality beef & crop exporters we need to build on this & increase exports.

3rd level education - grants provided to increase numbers of phd students in pharma/IT/Science areas

pete_mcs

irishh_bob wrote: »

, the reality is that most people are cost conscious when it comes to food

Does organic food cost that nuch more to produce? I grow a small plot myself but would be clueless to know anything about costs on a larger scale, so would have to bow to your better knowledge.

irishh_bob

pete_mcs wrote: »

Does organic food cost that nuch more to produce? I grow a small plot myself but would be clueless to know anything about costs on a larger scale, so would have to bow to your better knowledge.

not only does it cost a lot more , you need a lot more land to produce it as the use of artificial fertilizers or pesticides is forbiden , a non organic farmer with 100 acres might be able to own 70 cows where as an organic farmer with 100 acres might only be able to carry 40 cows

whatawaster

If we cut VAT, this would obviously increase demand and should help stimulate the economy.

I'm not sure what impact exactly it would have on our VAT receipts?

At the moment we take in 10m a year in VAT. If both rates were cut, say, by 3%, yes the amount of tax collected per transaction would be less, but is there not an argument that, certainly in the long term, such a move would stimulate the economy to produce more and so more taxable transactions would take place.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Export green energy and fresh water.
(both would require huge investment)

If they can pipe gas from Siberia, surely we should be able to pipe water into the UK and Europe?

rigumagoo

Privatization.
Sell off majority shares in our ridiculous (and quasi-illegal, under EU monopoly rules) state-sponsored bodies.

These include:

* CIE (including Bus Eireann, Dublin Bus and Irish Rail).
* ESB
* RTE (that way we can bank all of the 'TV licence' money that is used to prop up this network)
* TG4 while we're at it, although god know's who'd want it.
* VHI
* Bord Gáis

Since most of these are already posting deficits, we will achieve a quadruple victory:
1.unloading unprofitable assets.
2.netting the sales revenue.
3.gaining private investors who will run these services better than a government is able to, whom we can then...
4.tax!