Six measures we could sign up to to help Ireland in 2011!

Anonymous man

How can we help ourselves practically?

I think we can do the following on my initial thoughts.


1> Buy Irish.
2> If we see a non Irish competitor doing something right that the Irish company is doing wrong – point it out to them.
3> Those of us in employment at least consider an Irish holiday this year?
4> Do as much purchasing from our local communities as possible.
5> Those of us with a disposable income – for every 100 Euro spent on alcohol maybe consider a Trocáire box style piggy bank. Try to sacrifice 10% of your “drink” money for the box of your charity.
6> Encourage everyone to vote.


I am sure that these measures might not be applicable to everyone but it’s a start perhaps?

amacachi

May as well kick out the foreigners while we're at it.

zig

dont know what that first reply is about cause they are all decent points, dont really see how the charity one would benefit ireland, unless of course your talking about charities that help irish people (homeless etc)

later12

My suggestions would be

• Ignore the Unions and any enthusiasm for strike action in the short to medium term. Nobody can sit this one out, there has to be a sting.
• Vote for any party you like, but try to take a hard look at how voting for a party pussyfooting around wage restraint and competitive labour pratice will effect employment and economic progress. Ask yourself if this is really the time to vote for such a party mid-crisis.
• If you are a debtor under stress, don't ignore your financial commitments. Be upfront with your bank or lending institution as soon as problems arise. No matter how bad you think your finances are, and no matter how attractive it might be to bury your head and throw away letters, remember that lenders will invariably be familiar with cases far worse than your own, and in the current climate will likely be more than enthusiastic to negotiate your repayments or help you out somehow. Nobody wants hassle, so make life easy for yourself.
• Pursue opportunity. If you're young, you have no debt or personal commitments, and you can't find a job, consider emigrating. Seriously. This might be a great personal opportunity for you.
• Don't be shy in business. If you have a great idea, get up and sell it to your bank manager, then enter your market. Banks, contrary to some opinion, do have the facility to lend and they are lending. Don't sit at home dreaming. All a bank can say is no. You have nothing to lose by trying.
• Have confidence - in your community and in local business, and in your opportunities. Consumer and market confidence are what make investors sit up and take note. A country that hides behind the fat shadow of its problems is something that nobody with a ten foot barge pole wants to touch. So deal, wheel and haggle, but if you can, buy.
• Students - study your Maths and chemistry, go to college, and try to learn something useful. The advantages are purely personal, most employers value a technical degree over one in theology and basket weaving , and incidentally it would be good for the economy to have a larger body of people with the former.

Unpossible

Anonymous man wrote: »

5> Those of us with a disposable income – for every 100 Euro spent on alcohol maybe consider a Trocáire box style piggy bank. Try to sacrifice 10% of your “drink” money for the box of your charity.

How will this help the country? Unless of course you are giving the money to an Irish charity that will spend it on Irish causes.

johnnyskeleton

Set up a business, whether full time or just as a pet project. You might not make any money at it this year, but who knows - you might end up employing a few people next year and making a serious contribution to the economy the following year.

lmimmfn

The "buy irish" thing is excellent and something we really really need to do, were not allowed to say it officially in the EU but word should be spread as much as possible.

Note: A lot of "irish" brands arent even made here, e.g. Lyons Tea is packed it the UK.

Unpossible

lmimmfn wrote: »

Note: A lot of "irish" brands arent even made here, e.g. Lyons Tea is packed it the UK.

What country do they pay their taxes in though? I know its not as good as them having a manufacturing base here though.

RichardAnd

later10 wrote: »

My suggestions would be

• Ignore the Unions and any enthusiasm for strike action in the short to medium term. Nobody can sit this one out, there has to be a sting.
• Vote for any party you like, but try to take a hard look at how voting for a party pussyfooting around wage restraint and competitive labour pratice will effect employment and economic progress. Ask yourself if this is really the time to vote for such a party mid-crisis.
• If you are a debtor under stress, don't ignore your financial commitments. Be upfront with your bank or lending institution as soon as problems arise. No matter how bad you think your finances are, and no matter how attractive it might be to bury your head and throw away letters, remember that lenders will invariably be familiar with cases far worse than your own, and in the current climate will likely be more than enthusiastic to negotiate your repayments or help you out somehow. Nobody wants hassle, so make life easy for yourself.
• Pursue opportunity. If you're young, you have no debt or personal commitments, and you can't find a job, consider emigrating. Seriously. This might be a great personal opportunity for you.
• Don't be shy in business. If you have a great idea, get up and sell it to your bank manager, then enter your market. Banks, contrary to some opinion, do have the facility to lend and they are lending. Don't sit at home dreaming. All a bank can say is no. You have nothing to lose by trying.
• Have confidence - in your community and in local business, and in your opportunities. Consumer and market confidence are what make investors sit up and take note. A country that hides behind the fat shadow of its problems is something that nobody with a ten foot barge pole wants to touch. So deal, wheel and haggle, but if you can, buy.
• Students - study your Maths and chemistry, go to college, and try to learn something useful. The advantages are purely personal, most employers value a technical degree over one in theology and basket weaving , and incidentally it would be good for the economy to have a larger body of people with the former.

I second your point about emigration. It's not the disaster that it's made out to be. In fact, I have known people who have emigrated and it has been the making of them as better people. No matter where you live, people are still people and work is still work. After a few months in the new environment, you would be fairly settled and would miss "home" less and less.

Home is where you make it, not where you're born.

Smiegal

Anonymous man wrote: »

How can we help ourselves practically?

I think we can do the following on my initial thoughts.


1> Buy Irish.
2> If we see a non Irish competitor doing something right that the Irish company is doing wrong – point it out to them.
3> Those of us in employment at least consider an Irish holiday this year?
4> Do as much purchasing from our local communities as possible.

I am sure that these measures might not be applicable to everyone but it’s a start perhaps?

I couldnt care less whether or not a company is Irish or not! I will buy the most competitive product on the market.

My money is my money and Im not going waste it on an uncompeitive company just because they are Irish...

Charity begins at home. Simple.

Anonymous man

zig wrote: »

dont know what that first reply is about cause they are all decent points, dont really see how the charity one would benefit ireland, unless of course your talking about charities that help irish people (homeless etc)

Sorry should have clarified. Yes I mean like Simon Community and Vincet DePaul who have their hands full right now.

Anonymous man

amacachi wrote: »

May as well kick out the foreigners while we're at it.

I don't really understand that? Many foreigners are Irish Citizens aren't they?

Anonymous man

Smiegal wrote: »

I couldnt care less whether or not a company is Irish or not! I will buy the most competitive product on the market.

My money is my money and Im not going waste it on an uncompeitive company just because they are Irish...

Charity begins at home. Simple.

But won't the Irish company become competive to you in a mutually beneficial situation if you try to point out they're wrong doings?

E.g. If an Irish hotel has a bad practice that might dissappoint tourists - what is wrong with pointing that out to the Hotel Manager?

lasnoufle

Anonymous man wrote: »

But won't the Irish company become competive to you in a mutually beneficial situation if you try to point out they're wrong doings?

E.g. If an Irish hotel has a bad practice that might dissappoint tourists - what is wrong with pointing that out to the Hotel Manager?

However not buying is the best way to point out they're doing wrong, isn't it?

If you're buying and complain, the company gets the money, why should it give a s*** about what you're telling them? (Note this is a rethoric question: in an sensible world, I understand that listening would be good for the long-term profitability of the company, however nowadays everybody seems to focus on short term only, and the general motto seems to be "gimme the money and f*** off")

Saadyst

Yeah let's buy and sell from each other, that'll surely get us out this disaster :rolleyes:

gigino

Anonymous man wrote: »

5> Those of us with a disposable income – for every 100 Euro spent on alcohol maybe consider a Trocáire box style piggy bank. Try to sacrifice 10% of your “drink” money for the box of your charity.

as someone else pointed out, charity should begin at home, if the irish economy is not to suffer further.

our government is borrowing something like 700 billion a year to give to foreign charaties in official state aid. voluntary charatiy contributions are extra to that, and its all money leaving our economy, which we have to pay interest on to the EU / IMF.

Some of your other points on how to help the Irish economy are good though.

RichardAnd

gigino wrote: »

as someone else pointed out, charity should begin at home, if the irish economy is not to suffer further.

our government is borrowing something like 700 billion a year to give to foreign charaties in official state aid. voluntary charatiy contributions are extra to that, and its all money leaving our economy, which we have to pay interest on to the EU / IMF.

Some of your other points on how to help the Irish economy are good though.

Not quite that much, thankfully

gigino

oops, sorry, i'd bet my bottom dollar its in the 500 to 700 million range

OMD

Saadyst wrote: »

Yeah let's buy and sell from each other, that'll surely get us out this disaster :rolleyes:

Way to misread a post:rolleyes:

He meant we buy from each other. We can still sell to everyone.

Saadyst

OMD wrote: »

Way to misread a post:rolleyes:

He meant we buy from each other. We can still sell to everyone.

And if other countries decided to do the same? Think the larger point is being missed here.

gigino

Saadyst wrote: »

And if other countries decided to do the same?

feck all chinese buy anything from us, and most of the non-food items / hardware / sports goods / toys etc in the shops come directly or indirectly from china

go to france + most of the french buy french cars.

mathie

gigino wrote: »

feck all chinese buy anything from us, and most of the non-food items / hardware / sports goods / toys etc in the shops come directly or indirectly from china

go to france + most of the french buy french cars.

Yes there are a lot of goods that come from China.
Fine.
We can't beat them at that.
We can't be good at everything.

But why do we see potatoes from Israel in Irish Tesco stores?
Because we've become uncompetetive.

There are many many things that we should be trouncing other countries with but we just don't bother.
We need to play to our strengths.

Whether that's agricutural or wind/water energy or whatever else we're good at. Do it, do it well and other countries will buy it.

DoesNotCompute

amacachi wrote: »

May as well kick out the foreigners while we're at it.

Assuming you are not trolling, you had better explain this ignorant comment. Not all foreigners are a drain on social welfare. There are many who want to get out there and work, better themselves personally, and contribute to the tax system.

If you are trolling, STFU or GTFO.

DoesNotCompute

mathie wrote: »

Yes there are a lot of goods that come from China.
Fine.
We can't beat them at that.
We can't be good at everything.

But why do we see potatoes from Israel in Irish Tesco stores?
Because we've become uncompetetive.

There are many many things that we should be trouncing other countries with but we just don't bother.
We need to play to our strengths.

Whether that's agricutural or wind/water energy or whatever else we're good at. Do it, do it well and other countries will buy it.

But Tesco aren't an Irish company, they're British. What incentive do they have to buy Irish potatoes, when they're not Irish themselves?

mathie

DoesNotCompute wrote: »

But Tesco aren't an Irish company, they're British. What incentive do they have to buy Irish potatoes, when they're not Irish themselves?

They should buy Irish because we're the cheapest.
Not because we're Irish.

Why on earth is it cheaper (and it obviously is if Tesco are buying) to pay the price that Israel are charging and to ship them over than to produce them in Ireland?

Saadyst

DoesNotCompute wrote: »

But Tesco aren't an Irish company, they're British. What incentive do they have to buy Irish potatoes, when they're not Irish themselves?

I think the overall point is being missed in this thread, aside from mathie's post.

People would have no problem "buying Irish", if the product or service met their requirements. However, the fact that people need to be prompted to "buy Irish", (as if this is some sort of quality the product has) indicates that there is a problem with the Irish brand.

Basically, what I'm saying is, Irish produce / services should be more competitive, rather than rely on "patriotism" or "charity" to get ahead. If you support them with your money because they are "Irish", then you support failing business models. You can't support them forever. They need to adapt to survive, and the faster they do so, the better it will be for everyone.

recedite

mathie wrote: »

But why do we see potatoes from Israel in Irish Tesco stores?
Because we've become uncompetetive.

There are many many things that we should be trouncing other countries with but we just don't bother.
We need to play to our strengths.

Whether that's agricutural or wind/water energy or whatever else we're good at. Do it, do it well and other countries will buy it.

Eh... Ireland produced a big potato surplus last season and exported shiploads to Russia
http://www.potatobusiness.com/index.php?view=article&catid=1:latest-news&id=347:europeans-turn-to-ireland-for-potatoes

Are these some sort of special niche market Israeli spuds you refer to?

Unpossible

recedite wrote: »

Are these some sort of special niche market Israeli spuds you refer to?

Maybe they were sweet potatoes, I know Tesco sells Israeli sweet potatoes.

gigino

It amazes me whenever I go in to Lidl that not only is nearly everything imported there, but all of the staff there are foreigners ? from the security guy to the eastern european women on the checkouts ? How many hundreds of millions did western union transfer to Poland one year - I remember reading about it and I was amazed.
I suppose its a bit like the Irish sending money home from England in the fifties + sixties.

Guys, I just want to step in and remind everybody racism is not allowed on this website, let alone forum. There's a couple of posts that are skirting close to but not going over the line.

thetonynator

mathie wrote: »

Yes there are a lot of goods that come from China.
Fine.
We can't beat them at that.
We can't be good at everything.

But why do we see potatoes from Israel in Irish Tesco stores?
Because we've become uncompetetive.

There are many many things that we should be trouncing other countries with but we just don't bother.
We need to play to our strengths.

Whether that's agricutural or wind/water energy or whatever else we're good at. Do it, do it well and other countries will buy it.

About the potatoes: At some point irish people decided they wanted new potatoes in the middle of winter (despite them being soapy and horrible) instead of just from may to september, so therefore the supermarkets started to import them as new potatoes dont keep, and they cant be grown in ireland in winter.

Charisma

Most of the non Irish in this country who are working here send the bulk of their wages back to their families abroad so not only are they taking jobs from the Irish they are sending the money that would have gone into the Irish economy abroad.
Buy Irish and employ Irish.

Anonymous man wrote: »

I don't really understand that? Many foreigners are Irish Citizens aren't they?

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

nesf

Charisma wrote: »

Most of the non Irish in this country who are working here send the bulk of their wages back to their families abroad so not only are they taking jobs from the Irish they are sending the money that would have gone into the Irish economy abroad.
Buy Irish and employ Irish.

And many Irish are layabout wasters scrounging as much as they can off the dole, so better not employ them!

My, it's fun to make inane generalisations isn't it!

Amhran Nua

• Don't be shy in business. If you have a great idea, get up and sell it to your bank manager, then enter your market. Banks, contrary to some opinion, do have the facility to lend and they are lending. Don't sit at home dreaming. All a bank can say is no. You have nothing to lose by trying.

Nothing to lose unless your business goes under, as most new ones do, and you have to declare bankruptcy and get pursued for your debts for a couple of decades. One of the most severe impediments to entrepreneurship in Ireland today are the draconian bankruptcy laws. These need to be changed, for enterprise loans at least.

gigino

I agree with the above. More than a few hard working decent entrepreneurs have worked hard for the past few decades, long hours, and now find for whatever reason their businesses are failing and they cannot get the dole / unemployment payment if they closed down completely. ( as they may have a spouse working or a bit of money / asset accumulated ).

If they had been employees, they can. They see people , former class mates , who worked less hard at school and who did not get the same results or go on to get the same qualifications, but who got relatively cushy jobs in the public service and who never worked as hard or as long hours as they did, , and who are now much better off now in terms of salary and expected pension.

Anonymous man

This is not about Foreigners it's about helping Ireland grow its economy.
Some of the foreign people who work here have helped this country enormously and like the Irish there are good and bad everywhere. I'm not trying to create a divide here. Let's talk about helping Irish business for example.

I know in M&S they sell Britis Beef here and British chicken. I have got no problem with it but if Superquinn are selling the same produce at the same price what I am saying is that it makes sense to buy the Irish brand.

If we are talking about an inferior Irish product - then lets bring it to the attention of the business behind that product. Ok don't buy but how about getting the message over to them like "I will buy your produce if you can fix XY & Z which your Competitor is currently doing better.

Let's tell the Irish Hotel that is ripping people off why we won't go there.
I mean look at D4 Hotels they have rooms for 50 Euro's which compates with anywhere in Spain or anywhere else in Europe. That is something they are doing right. So if you know a Hotel in your local county why not bring it up with them. We need to pull together not pull each other apart.

And to the poster who mentioned charity - yes I meant Irish charities like VDP and SIMON who have their hands full. Once we patch ourselves up then hopefullly we can go back to being the good international charitable nation we once were.

Look I don't mean to come accross as some type of racist dictator. I'm just highlighting area's we can imrpove.

A new one sprung to mind - our attitude to elderly people and foreigners.

Let's show the tourists here why we are known for being friendly.
If you see tourists in your local area why not help out. Offer advice. Give up your seat on the bus/train for them and for the elderly. Let;s swap road rage for road grace. It's a combination of smell steps starting with our attitudes that can make the difference. Has anything I said given anyone the notion of having to make big sacrafices. No it hasn't. Why not. Would it hurty anyone to behave better as citizens?

For Forks Sake

Anonymous man wrote: »

Let's tell the Irish Hotel that is ripping people off why we won't go there.
I mean look at D4 Hotels they have rooms for 50 Euro's which compates with anywhere in Spain or anywhere else in Europe. That is something they are doing right. So if you know a Hotel in your local county why not bring it up with them. We need to pull together not pull each other apart.

Not if they were the last hotels on the planet would I fund Sean Dunne and his odious wife. Theres a reason d4 hotels are cheap, that site is worthless as DCC keep refusing planning and the "Baron of Ballsbridge" :rolleyes: needs cash coming in

later12

Amhran Nua wrote: »

[/LIST]
Nothing to lose unless your business goes under, as most new ones do, and you have to declare bankruptcy and get pursued for your debts for a couple of decades. One of the most severe impediments to entrepreneurship in Ireland today are the draconian bankruptcy laws. These need to be changed, for enterprise loans at least.

I agree fully. However, this would never wash with the two Irish Joes: Joe Worker and Joe Duffy. It would absolve NAMA developers from bankruptcy, allow them to move on from their troubles and restart their businesses in a matter of a few years. Bankruptcy law is what has most of the developer class held in a bear hug, and Joe Worker and Joe Duffy are not going to relinquish that hold.