Ideas for savings in Ireland

Spacedog · 05-07-2011 10:30AM #1

What can the government, business, groups or individuals do. to make Ireland a less poor miserable place?

A friend of mine was telling me she cant afford school books for her kids next term and cant get in the book program because shes not on assistance.

I also read this week than South Korea will not use a single school book by 2015 favouring digital books.

My idea is to have teachers contribute to a open source style wiki-school book project that matches the standards of education for each year, then edit and remove errors found throughout the year using the wiki style editing.

This would allow:
-kids to print only the chapter they need (or use e-readers/netbooks), making their bags lighter,
-give teachers non copyrighted quality material they can freely photocopy,
-ease the costs on parents and schools.
-make Ireland an example of the digital media innovator

____________________________________________

I know it's AH, but if you dont like an idea, try to come up with another, better one rather than pissing over them with pessimistic comments why they wont work.

Orando Broom · 05-07-2011 10:32AM

I'd borrow the books now and beat the child until they'd learned the book cover to cover.

No need for heavy bags during the winter.

orourkeda · 05-07-2011 10:33AM

Spacedog wrote: »

What can the government, business, groups or individuals do. to make Ireland a less poor miserable place?

A friend of mine was telling me she cant afford school books for her kids next term and cant get in the book program because shes not on assistance.

I also read this week than South Korea will not use a single school book by 2015 favouring digital books.

My idea is to have teachers contribute to a open source style wiki-school book project that matches the standards of education for each year, then edit and remove errors found throughout the year using the wiki style editing.

This would allow:
-kids to print only the chapter they need (or use e-readers/netbooks), making their bags lighter,
-give teachers non copyrighted quality material they can freely photocopy,
-ease the costs on parents and schools.
-make Ireland an example of the digital media innovator

____________________________________________

I know it's AH, but if you dont like an idea, try to come up with another, better one rather than pissing over them with pessimistic comments why they wont work.

Rooting out whingebags would be a start

Dravokivich · 05-07-2011 10:35AM

Why can't the school provide the books and have them for the following years as well until the curriculum is revised, then they get a new batch in.

None of the school books I used were ever passed onto my brothers / sisters because of the poxy curriculum revisions...

El Siglo · 05-07-2011 10:38AM

Get rid of the HSE and about a dozen other quangos, half of all TDs, half of all county councillors, abolish the Seanad, and sell off Aer Lingus. You'd save a lot of money very easily.

Sweatynutsack · 05-07-2011 10:39AM

Kids don't need an easier life
Sure my father used to walk 20 miles to school in his bare feet

El Guapo! · 05-07-2011 10:39AM

No more apples in the vending machine please

Itsdacraic · 05-07-2011 10:40AM

Dravokivich wrote: »

Why can't the school provide the books and have them for the following years as well until the curriculum is revised, then they get a new batch in.

None of the school books I used were ever passed onto my brothers / sisters because of the poxy curriculum revisions...

Cause the Government/Teachers are in cahoots with the publishers and now the majority of the work is done via workbooks so they can't be reused.

Dravokivich · 05-07-2011 10:42AM

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Cause the Government/Teachers are in cahoots with the publishers and now the majority of the work is done via workbooks so they can't be reused.

Kids don't use pencils anymore either? :eek:

Tehachapi · 05-07-2011 10:44AM

The public sector. Cut their €900/week average salaries and the multiple layers of middle management.

Gandalph · 05-07-2011 10:44AM

I know you said no pessimistic comments but we are suppose to be spending to get out of this recession

careca11 · 05-07-2011 10:48AM

El Siglo wrote: »

Get rid of the HSE and about a dozen other quangos, half of all TDs, half of all county councillors, abolish the Seanad, and sell off Aer Lingus. You'd save a lot of money very easily.

add to that list
Half the Budget for oversea's Aid.
Tax all Artist's
PS pay cuts (up to €50,000 exempt) , €50k--€75 15% cut . €76k --€100k 17% cut . €101k--€200k 20% cut over €200k 25% cut .
ZERO EXPENSES , ZERO OVERTIME

Cap Children's allowance to just 2 kids ...no payments for subsequent kids.
Cut Social entitlements for those who have been on the dole for longer than 5 years (lazy bast'ards)
any non-national that has not had a job since arriving here , should be sent home (NO EXCUSES)

all of this will help......................then again , the gov don't have the balls to implement any of the above

flutterflye · 05-07-2011 10:52AM

Revamp the entire civil service into a more efficient and cost effective system.
They have far too many people doing silly jobs, all in an old and nonsensical manner.
It would probably cost a good bit initially, but would pay off in the long term.

It is constantly brought up, but the government's wages and personal spending is completely ridiculous.
How anyone in charge of a country that is in tatters can justify paying themselves so much is beyond me.

conorhal · 05-07-2011 11:09AM

We spend nearly 3bn on child benefit every year without quantifying how effectively it is spent.
I would axe child benefit in the morning and instead directly provide two uniforms, all a childs school books and materials for the year, a healthy meal at lunchtime for every schoolchild and free school transport. In other words I'd make free primary and seconday education actually free.

I reckon that you could also save a billion euro doing this, eliminate waste and ensure that deprived children were incentivised to attend school.

Mr. Denton · 05-07-2011 11:28AM

Dean09 wrote: »

No more apples in the vending machine please

What's that you say, "More apples in the vending machine"?

Don't worry. Ther'll be plenty more apples for you! Nobody will take away your precious apples.
In fact you can even have a free apple now.

SEPT 23 1989 · 05-07-2011 11:35AM

Kill the poor

Spunge · 05-07-2011 11:39AM

Legalise murder and tax it, with the introduction of slaughter cafés

whydoibother? · 05-07-2011 11:45AM

ISME feel the black economy is costing us 5bn a year in taxes. Introduce some serious penalties for this as a deterrent. This doesn't even cost us anything to do, we just have to change laws until they're strict enough for people to be too scared to participate in the black economy.

Phill Ewinn · 05-07-2011 11:46AM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Kill the poor

Eat the rich

sensibleken · 05-07-2011 11:52AM

I could stop wearing pants! you know...for the tourists

sensibleken · 05-07-2011 11:52AM

whydoibother? wrote: »

ISME feel the black economy is costing us 5bn a year in taxes. Introduce some serious penalties for this as a deterrent. This doesn't even cost us anything to do, we just have to change laws until they're strict enough for people to be too scared to participate in the black economy.

racist!

corkonion · 05-07-2011 11:56AM

careca11 wrote: »

add to that list
Half the Budget for oversea's Aid.
Tax all Artist's
PS pay cuts (up to €50,000 exempt) , €50k--€75 15% cut . €76k --€100k 17% cut . €101k--€200k 20% cut over €200k 25% cut .
ZERO EXPENSES , ZERO OVERTIME

Cap Children's allowance to just 2 kids ...no payments for subsequent kids.
Cut Social entitlements for those who have been on the dole for longer than 5 years (lazy bast'ards)
any non-national that has not had a job since arriving here , should be sent home (NO EXCUSES)

all of this will help......................then again , the gov don't have the balls to implement any of the above

yep, the above would put this economy into the black instantly, but no government would ever have the bottle.

SEPT 23 1989 · 05-07-2011 12:02PM

whydoibother? wrote: »

ISME feel the black economy is costing us 5bn a year in taxes. Introduce some serious penalties for this as a deterrent. This doesn't even cost us anything to do, we just have to change laws until they're strict enough for people to be too scared to participate in the black economy.

If a citizen is caught revelling in the black economy we could cut off their hands as a deterrent to other scamps thinking of doing the same

ger vallely · 05-07-2011 12:10PM

Laptopts for school has to happen.The weight of the bags alone shows that. Also families could save some cash if uncrested uniforms were allowed for the foreseeable. Tracksuit bottoms from my daughters' school-€45!!A plain chain store uniform should suffice these days. Also means test the child benefit. Totally unacceptable the Enda Kenny, Ian Dempsey and whoever receive the same per child as the average Joe.Large and small scale savings there..

sensibleken · 05-07-2011 12:22PM

We could do a tiger raid on the ECB

Dyr · 05-07-2011 12:26PM

sensibleken wrote: »

We could do a tiger raid on the ECB

Give Sinn Fein the fund raising portfolio.

whydoibother? · 05-07-2011 12:43PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

If a citizen is caught revelling in the black economy we could cut off their hands as a deterrent to other scamps thinking of doing the same

Now we're getting places.

endabob1 · 05-07-2011 12:49PM

conorhal wrote: »

We spend nearly 3bn on child benefit every year without quantifying how effectively it is spent.
I would axe child benefit in the morning and instead directly provide two uniforms, all a childs school books and materials for the year, a healthy meal at lunchtime for every schoolchild and free school transport. In other words I'd make free primary and seconday education actually free.

I reckon that you could also save a billion euro doing this, eliminate waste and ensure that deprived children were incentivised to attend school.

Easy Tiger, that sounds like an idea that might actually work, save money and improve peoples lives, have you no idea where you are :eek:

queenorganiser · 05-07-2011 01:01PM

laptops/netbooks/wiki style work will not work unless the state want to get sued for ergonomic injury's... I suffer from rsi from working with computers all my life and I have the proper set up for ergo...

If a school is to forgo the route you propose, it would need to invest in the correct chairs (€800+,,, not the cheap argos ones as they don't help long term).. they would have to get monitor blocks, cabling, external keyboards, ergo mice to suit each individual's hand etc... screen glares etc...Custom adjustable desks.. would be a major pain in the ass.

It is a great idea however but there is NO WAY that our stingy government would cough up for that...

There is 1 school in Ireland doing it now.. the students have to buy the laptop in 1st year and use it then for the entire school term. This is in trial.. all of the above problems will arise from it and will either be scratched or they will have to cough up adn bring the entire school up to ergo standards.... I can't see this happening (school is Longwood Secondary School Co Meath)

Actually, the gov might just ignore all the problems for 2 decades and let the next gov be sued.. .eitherway.. while a great idea.. won't work....

I purchased my daughter's school books last week for sr infants and they cost me €30.. I found someone who would give me the readers, we rotate them within the neighbourhood... the school cut down on most workbooks so only had to buy 3 books and they used 1 from the last term... so they are trying in some schools...

True it is harder when there are lots of kids per family... but if you complain enough to the school and the parents council, they do cut out a huge majority of workbooks.

We also organised a school book exchange, whereby parents wanting books, all gave their list of what they wanted/had and other parents exchanged with them....

Spacedog wrote: »

What can the government, business, groups or individuals do. to make Ireland a less poor miserable place?

A friend of mine was telling me she cant afford school books for her kids next term and cant get in the book program because shes not on assistance.

I also read this week than South Korea will not use a single school book by 2015 favouring digital books.

My idea is to have teachers contribute to a open source style wiki-school book project that matches the standards of education for each year, then edit and remove errors found throughout the year using the wiki style editing.

This would allow:
-kids to print only the chapter they need (or use e-readers/netbooks), making their bags lighter,
-give teachers non copyrighted quality material they can freely photocopy,
-ease the costs on parents and schools.
-make Ireland an example of the digital media innovator

____________________________________________

I know it's AH, but if you dont like an idea, try to come up with another, better one rather than pissing over them with pessimistic comments why they wont work.

Cathal O · 05-07-2011 01:05PM

careca11 wrote: »

Cap Children's allowance to just 2 kids ...no payments for subsequent kids.

Is this a joke?

squod · 05-07-2011 01:11PM

Here's an idea. Next time why not vote for someone who won't cost the state €200bn.

THE Government will own more than 99% of Irish Life & Permanent Plc, the country’s third-biggest lender, after providing a €3.4 billion bailout.

The lender has a market value of about €16.3m, from a peak of more than €6bn in February 2007.

Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/irish-life-permanent-succumbs-to-state-control-159255.html#ixzz1RES2CVLf

That's €3.4bn for a business worth €16.3m. Can't anyone use the fuhken noggin when voting in this country?

Ideas for savings in Ireland

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