Ideas to improve the Irish economy

anorange

Ireland is obviously in a bad state at the moment and I don't think there is any quick fix for it. However, perhaps now might be the time to bring about smaller reforms that in the past might not have had much chance of going through, but now we may have the motivation to try.
What ideas do you have that might turn things around for our country?

anorange

cos I guess I should start the ball rolling...


I think we need to change our laws so that a greater level personal responsibility is enshrined in them. What I mean by this is that we should alter our laws so that we can prevent/reduce frivolous lawsuits being taken and increase individual accountability. If we could move away from being such a litigious society, and shaped our laws so as to ensure people would be held responsible for their own actions then there would be huge benefits for our entire nation.
Of course, I don't think the changes needed would be easy, they would undoubtedly require major legal (perhaps even constitutional) reforms. Beyond that, they would probably require a change in our whole attitude towards personal responsibility.
A few of the obvious benefits that spring to mind are:
Preventing frivolous lawsuits would certainly reduce local government expenditure (no more getting sued every time someone trips over on the pavement).
It would reduce the cost of insurance, which as well as helping lower individual expenditure, it would also reduce business costs, making it cheaper to start and run a business (possibly creating new jobs and stimulating the economy).
It would make it easier for companies or groups organising adventure/outdoor activities (reduced insurance rates, greater access to hiking/mountaineering site once farmers are no longer afraid of being sued by people going through their land), which in turn would lead to increase tourism.

I'm not saying that this would be easy to do, because it really requires getting some political will behind it. I just think now, given the state of the country, might be the best chance ever to make some important changes like this.







For the tldr crowd I guess it can be summed up like this:
increased personal responsibility + reduced frivolous lawsuits = big benefits for Ireland

Zebra3

Don't let the taxpayer be financially raped because of the problems with a handful of private businesses.

ScumLord

The government and law system need a serious audit, scrap or update anything that's more than 50 years old and digitise everything the government does so that the public can scrutinise everything themselves.

Lumen

Legalise involuntary euthansia for the over-65s.

ScumLord

Lumen wrote: »

Legalise involuntary euthansia for the over-65s.

Economy?

digme

Resurrect Hitler.

Lumen

ScumLord wrote: »

Economy?

If you lined them up really carefully you could save loads of bullets.

Bill2673

What I would suggest:

The EU/ IMF bail-out is basically them lending €85bn to us that in other circumstances we would have borrowed from the markets.

The reason the markets won't lend it to us is because it is such a huge amount and are worried we can't repay it (not because the 'markets' are bad).

The reason we are borrowing this money, more or less, is to allow us time to gradually, readjust state spending back to a level where it balances with tax income.

The key word here is 'gradually'.

Why don't we just readjust immediately, and then we won't need to borrow the €85bn. That is, instead of gradually introducing the various tax hikes, social welfare cuts, public pay cuts over 4 years....why not just do it straight away, and not borrow the €85bn that we need to fund the public sector deficit that allows us to do this over a four year period.

Any thoughts?

(And purlease, I know that part of the borrowing is the inject capital into banks, but the vast majority of the bailout is for public sector deficit, so lets not go down that road).

anorange

ScumLord wrote: »

The government and law system need a serious audit, scrap or update anything that's more than 50 years old and digitise everything the government does so that the public can scrutinise everything themselves.

This makes a lot of sense. I kinda have the feeling if this was done it would become obvious just how much waste there is and just how unnecessary certain parts of our government are.
...I'm looking at you Senate.

bobsoice23

Keep dreaming..there'd be very few politicians around if everything they did was out in the public domain.My suggestion...give me 50 billion and I'll sort things out fairly lively

Bill2673

OP

Please indicate whether you wish for a serious but irrelevant economic discussion or a series of shocking, hilarious, want-to-be funny posts....just noticed this is in AH, possibly should be in Irish economy?

Lumen

Bill2673 wrote: »

The key word here is 'gradually'.

Why don't we just readjust immediately...

...because it takes time for an economy to readjust itself.

Example: if you immediately cut everyone's net pay in half through tax rises, people could not pay their mortgages and there would be massive defaults. If you do it over 20 years, people can absorb the change as their mortgages get paid off.

There are probably exceptions. 100% death taxes might work, although Laffer curve probably says no.

amacca

Lumen wrote: »

If you lined them up really carefully you could save loads of bullets.

Pesky OAPs cramping your lifestyle?

Bill2673

Lumen wrote: »

...because it takes time for an economy to readjust itself.

Example: if you immediately cut everyone's net pay in half through tax rises, people could not pay their mortgages and there would be massive defaults. If you do it over 20 years, people can absorb the change as their mortgages get paid off.

There are probably exceptions. 100% death taxes might work, although Laffer curve probably says no.

Firstly, the adjustments are to take place over four years not twenty years, so i don't see how that makes much difference to the mortgage situation.

Second.....why does the economy need time to adjust? Is it that important that we will borrow €85bn for the privilege?

Run_to_da_hills

Arrest and jail all corrupt developers, bank and government officials with long term prison sentenses and perhaps the country will feel better giving the people an incentive to get back on their feet again, but of course this will never happen in Ireland.

anorange

Bill2673 wrote: »

OP

Please indicate whether you wish for a serious but irrelevant economic discussion or a series of shocking, hilarious, want-to-be funny posts....just noticed this is in AH, possibly should be in Irish economy?

I was thinking AH is the best place for it, because I was hoping it would be about ideas and suggestions for improving Ireland, and I was hoping it would avoid just becoming another economic debate. (is that possible nowadays)

anorange

I may have doomed this thread by including the word economy in the title. That word seems to angry up the blood.

digme

anorange wrote: »

I may have doomed this thread by including the word economy in the title. That word seems to angry up the blood.

credit card is a better word

Sunnyisland

[/HTML]I think we need to change our laws so that a greater level personal responsibility is enshrined in them[/HTML]

And we can start with the people at the top,let our leaders lead by example, from our td,s to our union leaders and all the way down.I live in hope

markesmith

Few suggestions, from my own point of view:

- Force banks to start lending to small businesses again, even if it's just a small loan for working capital. This was initially one of the main purposes of NAMA, no?

- Get Revenue and the Government to foster a co-operational relationship with small business. SMEs are a cornerstone of a functioning economy - I never once received any communication from the State as to how mine was doing, but got lots of documents from Revenue.

- Abolish the Senate. The election process is archaic, and it's widely seen as a cosy retirement home that pays.

Bill2673

realies wrote: »

[/HTML]I think we need to change our laws so that a greater level personal responsibility is enshrined in them[/HTML]

And we can start with the people at the top,let our leaders lead by example, from our td,s to our union leaders and all the way down.I live in hope

I'd actually start with the people at the bottom who voted them in......Fianna Fail got more votes in the last general election than any other party lets not forget. The general public needs to take more of an interest in state policy (is doing so now I acknowledge).

Lumen

Bill2673 wrote: »

Firstly, the adjustments are to take place over four years not twenty years, so i don't see how that makes much difference to the mortgage situation.

Second.....why does the economy need time to adjust? Is it that important that we will borrow €85bn for the privilege?

I picked an obvious example because it's clearer. I was hoping that imagination would fill in the blanks.

A more specific example: welfare and minimum wage. These are interdependent for obvious reasons. People (employed and unemployed) buy stuff. Stuff is sold by people. If people are expensive, stuff is expensive. If you make people cheaper, stuff becomes cheaper, but the adjustment takes a long time because it has to work it's way through a bunch of supply chain and employment cycles. If you change wages much faster than prices can adjust, people can't afford stuff, employment increases, businesses go to the wall and productive capacity is lost.

etc.

anorange

How about legalising cannabis? And I don't just mean de-criminalising it, but fully legalising, regulating and taxing it.
Benefits include:

• increased tourism
• greater tax revenue
• Ireland could lead the world in medical research in this area
• less money wasted policing and prosecuting offenders
• regulation of quality and THC/cannabinoid ratios will lead to less physical + mental health issues
• a new form of revenue for the the ailing Irish farm industry

Lumen

anorange wrote: »

How about legalising cannabis?

For maximum effect, limit the legalisation zone to somewhere no-one would have any reason to go otherwise, like Westmeath.

amacca

Lumen wrote: »

For maximum effect, limit the legalisation zone to somewhere no-one would have any reason to go otherwise, like Westmeath.

Westmeath is already full of Potheads

I suggest somewhere not already full of migrating potheads....answers on a postcard please.

markesmith

Lumen wrote: »

For maximum effect, limit the legalisation zone to somewhere no-one would have any reason to go otherwise, like Westmeath.

Yeah, you need it down there just to cope :pac:

Dr_Phil

anorange wrote: »

How about legalising cannabis?

... and heroin, cocaine, organised prostitution, peadophilia... There is a lot of potential around if we are talking about "monaay"... :rolleyes:

markesmith wrote: »

Force banks to start lending

Yeah, then don't pay them back the money we borrowed, do some black PR and accuse of causing the recession. Genius in it's simplicity! Has worked before.

galwayrush

Borrowed money is far better invested in projects that get people back working,resulting in immediate return on the money, as opposed to tossing most of it into a black hole like zombie banks merely to bail out the friends of our Government who apparently must retain their high life styles.

senordingdong

Make political party contributions illegal.

Dr_Phil

galwayrush wrote: »

Borrowed money is far better invested in projects that get people back working,resulting in immediate return on the money

Do you mean the property market and construction sites? :rolleyes:

senordingdong

Dr_Phil wrote: »

Do you mean the property market and construction sites? :rolleyes:

I think he means something abit more concrete (excuse the pun)

I mean what are these contractors to do when their projects are finished?

ilovesleep

Execution for politicians especially FF and ratface Ahern, developers and bankers. And for any one else passing their dodgy business deals onto other human beings.

galwayrush

Dr_Phil wrote: »

Do you mean the property market and construction sites? :rolleyes:

Not exactly, infrastructure though would be an investment for the future.

Dr_Phil

galwayrush wrote: »

Not exactly, infrastructure though would be an investment for the future.

Ok, ok, I'm only messing Just a bit bitter morning, ya know..

the_syco

Apart from a full military coup with the new el Presidento shoving these new laws out, I can't see them happening: the politician would be turning their backs on "friends" who helped them into office.

anorange

We could also push the retirement age back a few years.

anorange

How about legalising cannabis?

Dr_Phil wrote: »

... and heroin, cocaine, organised prostitution, peadophilia... There is a lot of potential around if we are talking about "monaay"... :rolleyes:

Somehow, I don't think you can compare legalising cannabis with legalising paedophilia.

Bill2673

Lumen wrote: »

I picked an obvious example because it's clearer. I was hoping that imagination would fill in the blanks.

A more specific example: welfare and minimum wage. These are interdependent for obvious reasons. People (employed and unemployed) buy stuff. Stuff is sold by people. If people are expensive, stuff is expensive. If you make people cheaper, stuff becomes cheaper, but the adjustment takes a long time because it has to work it's way through a bunch of supply chain and employment cycles. If you change wages much faster than prices can adjust, people can't afford stuff, employment increases, businesses go to the wall and productive capacity is lost.

etc.

If you make people cheaper then our economy becomes more competitive and we have a better chance of generating economic growth again (which boosts employment).

I take your point on the implications of a quick adjustment.....all I am saying is.....we either do this over four years, and borrow €85bn plus interest, or we can do it straight away, and not borrow €85bn.....

why do the benefits of adjusting over 4 years rather than immediately warrant borrowing €85bn? We're going to take the hit anyway.....we all know its coming....so our spending patterns that you refer to are adjusting already anyway.

Lumen

Bill2673 wrote: »

If you make people cheaper then our economy becomes more competitive and we have a better chance of generating economic growth again (which boosts employment).

I take your point on the implications of a quick adjustment.....all I am saying is.....we either do this over four years, and borrow €85bn plus interest, or we can do it straight away, and not borrow €85bn.....

why do the benefits of adjusting over 4 years rather than immediately warrant borrowing €85bn? We're going to take the hit anyway.....we all know its coming....so our spending patterns that you refer to are adjusting already anyway.

The economic plan is based on false assumptions of future growth. Take away the growth and the maths fails completely. I don't think it's possible to balance the books, now or in the future, without a proper default and/or Euro exit.

I'm guessing that the government is just buying time, secretly hoping that Spain or Portugal fail first, before jumping on whatever bandwagon comes along whilst blaming "external factors".

El Siglo

Take two billion from the IMF bailout, set up a gas extraction company, kick Shell out of Corrib, start drilling and refining the gas there, make €420 billion from natural gas sales to UK and EU, pay off the IMF loan, merge and nationalise AIB and BOI, pay off peoples' personal debts, amend constitution to include 'white collar' crime.

Economy fixed.

Ninjedi

(1) Just legalise it already - anyone who thinks weed isn't rife throughout Irish society already is naive. Why not take the money off the crimelords and put it into the public domain. The reasons for its illegality are both unclear and hypocritical given the massive alcohol problem this country has. Could be an amazing source of revenue through taxes, oh go on then and a levy (not a tax!) or two as well. I'm sure people would rather pay a bit more for consistently higher quality stuff than be constantly ripped off by dealers.

(2) Kill the government! Ahem, stop the government from being able to decide their own working hours, holidays, rates of pay, pensions etc. Tear down their pay and benefits structure, especially this ridiculous "I get to keep my pension package no matter what I do" thing and make it a reasonable income so that people in politics are actually in it for a reason other than to bleed the tax coffers dry. Possibly introduce a law that states that anyone who actually wants to be a politician is slowly and deliciously tortured to death isn't ever allowed to. Election candidates would be selected at random from each constituencies population and receive a period of education/training before a running period of two weeks (note that these training courses would create jobs). A permanent staff of unaffiliated legal and secretarial types (more jobs!) would ease each newly elected official into their office.

(3) Seriously, can't we just storm the Dail, lock them all in and burn the ****er down? Seeing as this minimum wage cut has gone ahead, yes we know we have one of the highest in Europe well guess what you dickheads we also have one of the highest costs of living, how about forcing retail and service to drop their goddam prices so that some of the money they're saving makes it to the average person.

(4) I mean, come on, they're all too old and unfit to fight their way out! The only reason any of them even pretend to play golf is for the expenses writeoff. Sack every useless lazy bastard that uses the council as a place to avoid the real working world. Complete public works and roads to an actual decent standard (it can't be that hard, look at the North) so that they don't need to be redone every year after a bit of bad weather. It'll take a while but it's worth it, this cowboy mentality that pervades Irish society has to end somewhere. Also, anyone on public money should NEVER have nothing to do. Disgusted over the bad weather that the councilmen sat around because there was no grit left instead of getting out there with shovels and making things safer for the public that pay their wages.

(5) It'd be funny to watch them fighting each other to get out as they started burning don't you think? Any instance of proven corruption with regard to public office or finances is met with immediate, inescapable and harsh punishment.

(6) I bet you that Harney one would just suck the innards out of a few of the others and then drape herselves in their skins to protect herself from the fire. Jesus I nearly forgot - take all the luxury out of Mountjoy! I don't have ****ing Sky why the hell should they get it on my money!? It's PRISON people it's not meant to be nice, adequate standard of living my arse hole, they gave up those rights when they broke the law as far as I'm concerned. It should be broth, bread and water, daily searches of people and rooms, the most basic forms of entertainment and nothing more. Prison should not be fun, it should not be tolerable, it should not be somewhere you EVER want to go back to again never mind a place where crooks go voluntarily taking the hit for "the big man" and having it cushty on the inside then a big reward waiting for them when they get out. Anyone that goes to prison on charges like gangs, guns, heroin etc should be considered to have waived their future rights to financial privacy and have all their accounts constantly under scrutiny (hey look, more jobs!) to keep them clean and hopefully reveal any funny goings on.

(7) It's ok though, we could just throw a few steaks back into the flames, as soon as she got the smell she'd be after them. Someone already mentioned the claim culture - keep those laws in place but make it completely ok for judge or jury, after an initial hearing or examination, to throw the whole thing out of court without possibility of appeal. We can all spot a chancer, how come our judges can't seem to do the same and act upon it?

(8) Once she's blocked up the exit that's them all fecked then, there'll be no moving that lump once all the fat starts bubbling out, oh god imagine the smell, as horrible as it would be you could probably bottle and sell it to the women of this country as perfume after the things she has done to them. This may sound silly compared to the rest but has anyone ever tried to find tax forms, info, reliefs and benefits etc on the government websites? Make it easy (not easier - easy!) for the average citizen to find and use this stuff, they'll have a bit more in their pockets, general stimulus people spending blah blah blah.

I sort of digressed into helping people out as opposed to stimulating the economy but the two aren't so far apart in my mind.


tl;dr I'm not a happy man! Make me your overlord and I'll share that sentiment with the people I don't like.

Bill2673

Lumen wrote: »

The economic plan is based on false assumptions of future growth. Take away the growth and the maths fails completely. I don't think it's possible to balance the books, now or in the future, without a proper default and/or Euro exit.

I'm guessing that the government is just buying time, secretly hoping that Spain or Portugal fail first, before jumping on whatever bandwagon comes along whilst blaming "external factors".

You may well be right regarding the governments intentions (though bear in mindn the current government won't be around in four months) and you may well be right regarding the growth prospects.....all i'm asking is, why are we borrowing this money? Why isn't there a national debate about it? Assuming we don't default, which at the moment is the assumption, then the interest payments will be crippling (not because the EU is shafting us but because we are borrowing such a large amount).

Bill2673

anorange wrote: »

Somehow, I don't think you can compare legalising cannabis with legalising paedophilia.

well ya posted in after hours....and then you said you didn't want just another boring economic debate......

dr ro

El Siglo wrote: »

Take two billion from the IMF bailout, set up a gas extraction company, kick Shell out of Corrib, start drilling and refining the gas there, make €420 billion from natural gas sales to UK and EU, pay off the IMF loan, merge and nationalise AIB and BOI, pay off peoples' personal debts, amend constitution to include 'white collar' crime.

Economy fixed.

Brilliant.
Also, we need to do something like what finland did to get out of their recession i.e. develop nokia. We need an actual centre of excellence for some product or industry. At least we'd have one then. Mcwilliams' suggestion of giving all mortgage holders a 2 year holiday would kick start spending. And give the economy a chance to reset itself. We are too expensive to do business with. Minimum wage and welfare is too high, so is average industrial wage. It's closer to what it should be but still needs to come down. Cost of living will come down.people need to lose the greed. Gov't needs to address the mortgage situation with the banks before eu interest rates rise or our problems are only beginning.

amacca

Ninjedi wrote: »

(3) Seriously, can't we just storm the Dail, lock them all in and burn the ****er down? Seeing as this minimum wage cut has gone ahead, yes we know we have one of the highest in Europe well guess what you dickheads we also have one of the highest costs of living, how about forcing retail and service to drop their goddam prices so that some of the money they're saving makes it to the average person.

(4) I mean, come on, they're all too old and unfit to fight their way out! The only reason any of them even pretend to play golf is for the expenses writeoff. Sack every useless lazy bastard that uses the council as a place to avoid the real working world. Complete public works and roads to an actual decent standard (it can't be that hard, look at the North) so that they don't need to be redone every year after a bit of bad weather. It'll take a while but it's worth it, this cowboy mentality that pervades Irish society has to end somewhere. Also, anyone on public money should NEVER have nothing to do. Disgusted over the bad weather that the councilmen sat around because there was no grit left instead of getting out there with shovels and making things safer for the public that pay their wages.

(5) It'd be funny to watch them fighting each other to get out as they started burning don't you think? Any instance of proven corruption with regard to public office or finances is met with immediate, inescapable and harsh punishment.

(6) I bet you that Harney one would just suck the innards out of a few of the others and then drape herselves in their skins to protect herself from the fire. Jesus I nearly forgot - take all the luxury out of Mountjoy! I don't have ****ing Sky why the hell should they get it on my money!? It's PRISON people it's not meant to be nice, adequate standard of living my arse hole, they gave up those rights when they broke the law as far as I'm concerned. It should be broth, bread and water, daily searches of people and rooms, the most basic forms of entertainment and nothing more. Prison should not be fun, it should not be tolerable, it should not be somewhere you EVER want to go back to again never mind a place where crooks go voluntarily taking the hit for "the big man" and having it cushty on the inside then a big reward waiting for them when they get out. Anyone that goes to prison on charges like gangs, guns, heroin etc should be considered to have waived their future rights to financial privacy and have all their accounts constantly under scrutiny (hey look, more jobs!) to keep them clean and hopefully reveal any funny goings on.

(7) It's ok though, we could just throw a few steaks back into the flames, as soon as she got the smell she'd be after them. Someone already mentioned the claim culture - keep those laws in place but make it completely ok for judge or jury, after an initial hearing or examination, to throw the whole thing out of court without possibility of appeal. We can all spot a chancer, how come our judges can't seem to do the same and act upon it?


tl;dr I'm not a happy man! Make me your overlord and I'll share that sentiment with the people I don't like.

While I don't agree with absolutely everything you say...

I must admit....I'm impressed....I like the cut of your jib young man.

especially the bits about actually punishing crime properly.

Lumen

Bill2673 wrote: »

You may well be right regarding the governments intentions (though bear in mindn the current government won't be around in four months) and you may well be right regarding the growth prospects.....all i'm asking is, why are we borrowing this money? Why isn't there a national debate about it? Assuming we don't default, which at the moment is the assumption, then the interest payments will be crippling (not because the EU is shafting us but because we are borrowing such a large amount).

I assume by "why are we borrowing this money" you mean "why can we not balance the books completely now"?

An Bord Snip only found €5.3bn of potential savings. What's the difference between that and what the govt has actually planned? A couple of billion a year?

You'd have to find many multiples of those ABS savings. I just don't see that it's possible without killing essential services like schools and hospitals. Are we going to start having homeless construction workers home-schooling our kids?

The absurd bank guarantee sealed our fate. Whilst we're waiting around for the proper end-game to happen, we may as well make reasonable but not utterly destructive savings where possible such that economy v2.0 starts out a bit more viable.

Ninjedi

Depending on when you catch me I might not even agree with everything I say

I do believe that for closure (that's for closure, not foreclosure, don't panic!) and for the Irish people to look ahead with actual optimism, the chancer/cowboy culture has to stop - on all levels of society - and the only way to do that is to make the penalties for getting caught so tight (both in terms of sentencing and inescapability on technicalities) and the methods of punishment (real prisons, fines that actually hurt, the lifelong financial audit that I mentioned already) that very few, if any, are willing to risk it.

I'm talking everyone, from the guy that trips on the footpath and claims even though he doesn't hurt himself (you hear me Lifford, YOU HEAR ME!? ) to those bastards in the Dail who seem to believe they're above the laws they inflict on everyone except themselves and their cronies.

p.s. I don't like politicians...you know, in case you didn't guess. The next FF supporter to say "It's time to forget the past and move on" to me in person is going to regret it! Anyone else getting that **** from the few people that will actually admit to supporting them now?

PCPhoto

these kind of threads come about every now and again.... the answer is simple.

Blow the damn country up .... we're all fukked !

Seriously though reform and accountability are needed:

Need to change every system to get rid of the waste:

Legal System
Health System
Poitical System
Roads (rules of the road, speeds, road markings, parking .... assess and then when the rules are fixed - ENFORCEMENT - and not just at Christmas ...every day)


Totally agree with the prison comment above - if someone does not behave in a civil manner and respect the rules of society - they do not deserve human rights - prison should be a punishment not a holiday camp....and no more of these do-gooders fighting and appealing decisions..... decision of trial judge/jury is final - unless new evidence is found.

- Justice System - start a system where repeat criminals get minimum sentencing - meaning if you have 10 previous convictions you start off your next crime will get you minimum X amount of years, if you do the same crime (ie. a series of robberies ...NO CONCURRENT SENTENCING - and each sentence the mandatory minimum of the previous sentence)

- Roads .... Enforce traffic laws, stop people parking illegally, running red lights, parking in loading/disabled bays ..... illegally parked cars should be towed and not simply clamped - they are causing an obstruction....

- no exceptions for Taxi's, Delivery vehicles, etc etc ... if emergency service vehicles are caught abusing their "powers" .... ie. using sirens to get past traffic on the way to the shops for lunch - immediately punished - docked a weeks wages, Emergency service vehicles need to be fitted with a monitor to track if/when it is used....its not difficult.

General Road users - EVERY car is fitted with a Tachograph, the owner/driver of the car is responsible for the tachograph - if it is tampered with the owner/driver can be jailed, this will ensure ALL insurance companies will drop insurance as policies will make sure that if the driver is over the speed limit they are responsible for any liabilities (of course this is after the roads speeds are up to date)

Retest road users - for those that work on the roads - random tests and introduce a report and reward system actually this system could also be brought into criminal side of things.

REPORT and REWARD - if someone reports a car breaking a red light at X junction at X time...or dangerous driving etc etc ... the person reporting would get a percentage of any fine imposed - if the person was caught and convicted.
FOR Driving - introduce a system for speeding where those that are under the limit their registration plates are recorded and put into a database and random plates are chosen and the owner/driver receives a payment for driving safely.... a person who is over the limit has his/her licence plate recorded and fined instantly and is exempt from winning the speeding "lottery" for 2 weeks.

POLITICAL SYSTEM - Jaysus where do we start here .... throw the whole lot out - anyone who is related to a current politician or any personal link to politicians at the moment should be banned for 10years from political life - ....... anyone who "donated" money to politicians should have their accounts trawled and every transaction queried....anyone who has had a revenue audit will understand this one.

In an ideal world "new" politicians would be business leaders - but its unlikely to happen but any HEAD of a Department must have some qualification in the department they are in charge of.
Politicians should not be entitled to expenses - they should get a flat fee - if they cant afford to pay to get to work for approx €100,000 ...dont bother applying for the job.

Politicians should not be allowed to have a job held in their name for when they finish their political career - if you leave a job to become a politician - they you do not deserve a pension or any other benefits from the other career....infact .... ministerial benefits need to be removed.

Bonus for politicians who have served for over 25 years (assuming they have been elected several times means the public must have faith in them and they must be doing a good job)

ANY Politician found guilty of a criminal offence - immediately removed from office and stripped of pension and banned from political life for 10years.


Meh .... this is too long for people in After hours to read ..... I stand by my opening statement !!!

Zebra3

It's amazing how gullible some people are. :rolleyes:

Some right-wing rich bast@rds propose cutting the minimum wage and social welfare and every thick jumps on the bandwagon.

I've better ideas.

Bring in a reasonable maximum wage limit and cut rich people's welfare. Cut the pensions and percs for past and present politicans and cut all the tax saving scams that rich people get through the likes of their pensions.

Bill2673

Zebra3 wrote: »

It's amazing how gullible some people are. :rolleyes:

Some right-wing rich bast@rds propose cutting the minimum wage and social welfare and every thick jumps on the bandwagon.

I've better ideas.

Bring in a reasonable maximum wage limit and cut rich people's welfare. Cut the pensions and percs for past and present politicans and cut all the tax saving scams that rich people get through the likes of their pensions.

right wing rich bast#rd eh? I wish.

So making the country more competitive by cutting what is still one of the highest minimum wages in Europe won't help the economy......and forcing whatever wealthy people we have left out of the country will help the economy....these are the much vilified people who, oh well they pay 80% of our tax revenue, but don't let that distract your from the fact that they are bast#rds...

yeah that'll work....but sure what do I know, I'm just a bast#ard (not rich though).


Here's one for you. Our social welfare is higher than portugals minimum wage. People get more on the dole here than than they do in our EU neighbour for working at minimum wage....in fact its about 10% higher. So why should industry move here exactly, and not to portugal. You want to create jobs? In that environment?