If only enough people, or more of the right people, would share a little more of their time or expertise for the common good, how many of our economic and social challenges would be overcome? For example, if enough people spent a couple of hours cleaning up litter at the weekend, the country would be transformed within weeks. If enough people did a little bit of tourism promotion, visitor numbers could be multiplied. If community volunteerism was to see a phenomenal growth – so many social problems could be greatly eased, or disappear altogether. And what if highly skilled entrepreneurs where to lend a hand to struggling new businesses , helping start-ups steer the right course with a little invaluable advice. Of course, while many people’ do their bit’, we barely scratch the surface relative to what could be achieved if we got the population at large motivated to volunteer for the common good. This proposal is about deliberately and systematically motivating volunteerism and More...

Make Ireland the home of the research and development (R&D) activity. Support the R&D and be perceived as the country where most of the industrial research and innovation. Convince the industries that Ireland is the country where industrial research should be based, the prototypes should be developed, and the new products tested and brought to the market. Communicate to the world that the well developed infrastructure in the country would permit high standards of living for the scientific personnel, the universities would provide high profile staff and the efficiently set up legal and political environment are ideal to develop and to license new products. Basically, offer a stable working environment and high standards of living to those who want to analyse, develop and improve the technologies of the future.

By utilising the resources we already have available to alleviate housing problems and creating affordable housing, while also creating employment, and stimulating the economy through sales of materials, labour, and the finished product.

My proposal is a system where consumers buying Irish products are rewarded by tax credits or rebate. There would be a labeling system on the products on the lines of the BER labeling. Products could have a FIR (FULLY IRISH RATING) rating in the sales of the product. Where an A labeled product if fully 100% Irish and an E or F labeled product is only 20 or 30 % Irish. The better the rating a product or service gets, the higher the tax credit / rebate for the consumer on purchasing their product or service. If a company uses Irish services for supply and distribution, employees Irish people and uses Irish raw materials then, their products would be rated more favorably and given say an A rating. This would be promoted and marketed to the consumer as being more attractive when a higher tax rebate /credit is given to purchase this product or service . This would increase sales and expand such companies that more Irish based than other companies. This can be on a pilot system for two yea More...

Proposal: Ireland - land of the Healthy, attract the Wealthy Retirees from all over the world with a high standard of living, health care and leisure facilities. Boost the population of Ireland 10%, natural increase in jobs, to deal with the increased proportion of Irish residents with a target of 400k over the next 5 years.

Ireland has a unique opportunity to become the first country in the world to energize its industrial and social frameworks by embracing population ageing as a positive phenomenon, with enormous potential to not only harness the energy of older Irish people, to create new products and markets relating to ageing, but also to provide positive leadership in a world where the majority of older people live in the developing world. While the rest of the world focusses on the negative aspects of ageing, Ireland can steal a march by embracing the positivities and opportunities of maturing societies: according to the EU, the senior citizens market will grow by 81% from 2005 to 2030 while the 18-59 year old market will only increase by 7%! The key challenge to realizing the Demographic Dividend is to embrace the complexity of ageing, which means that growth and loss occur at all ages: a little known fact is that gains in longevity after 1970 have added $3.2 trillion a year to the US economy. The More...

This proposal reduces car dependency in our cities freeing them up to deliver both prosperity and employment. The best way to explain this proposal is through a specific example. The core idea in this proposal is to develop a particular kind of park and ride facility The example chosen is in Dublin but the principles involved transfer easily to all major Irish cities. While park-and-ride is in itself not a new idea the approach devised for this proposal most certainly is. The approach propose exploits existing resources and can as a result be taken on in these tough times. It pioneers an innovative community-based approach in its management structure and governance. Its timing is ideal because it delivers environmental benefits on top of significant economic gains much-needed in the current climate

• A local exchange system whereby goods and services may be exchanged for pre-purchased or earned energy from a sustainable source. • The proposed energy source is a Community Energy Supply Company (cESCO). • The exchange mechanism is to be complementary to the dominant currency (Euro). • The existance of the exchange system will help raise the required capital to build the energy source. Monergy will circulate freely in the community, thus reinvigorating the marketplace with much needed liquidity. The capital raised NEVER has to be paid back - thanks to the reciculating power of Monergy. Proposal attached

GREEN Grass-roots eco-energy networks Ireland has both the natural and human resources to develop a home-grown, bottom-up renewable energy culture. The underlying self-reliance is already there from its agricultural heritage, but needs to be transferred to the new times we live in. Ireland should not, nor need not, import this technology, but instead through an integrated education, re-training and re-cycling programme can and must create a new generation of skilled and innovative workers who are totally prepared to exploit the new economic and climatic conditions that we now find ourselves in.

Give to each Irishman/Irishwoman a well designed place, together with the time and the best tools to think, and create a nation of a thinking and communicating population to get Ireland back to where it belongs, at the forefront of the “intelligent society”, and the emerging wave of the so-called Third Industrial Revolution. This idea is to regenerate a number of pubs (as social hubs) across the country, and through redesign converting it into ‘social innovation hubs’ and ‘places for thinking’, open to the general public. The physical network will be supported by an online network of users and partners, which will be a catalyst for Irish social and creative capital, to boost thinking and ignite innovative collaborations