# 10 things Irish People can do to help the economy grow



## bluemac (24 Jun 2011)

what are your top 10 things Irelands residents could do to help the economy grow.
I am not suggesting we are all sheep and need leading however if we were told a list of 10 simple things we could all do to help the country. What are your top 10?
first I think we should do what the UK is thinking and offer us shares in BOI adn AIB (at a future date but tell us they are coming and how many shares we will get)

1. bring back money from abroad (this is now in our interest and will increase share price and stabilize the banks we own it may aslo increase lending)

2. Spend €20 extra a week each household on something you would not normally get pref service related (meal out, coffee, go to the pub etc) (worth 416 Million)

3. Buy €5 of EXTRA Irish Products a week at the supermarket. This would be worth over 105 million a year to the local economy

4. Holiday in Ireland this year (some one need to say how this will help us)

5. cut down on buying in the north.

6. cut down on your online purchases from companies based abroad


and now ive run out which is exactly my point. I need telling what i can do to help, why does the government not put out a Plan. Having seen all the figures yesterday if we can get growth started here domestically we may have a chance. If they printed a leaflet and sent it to every house hold telling us what to do and that this would produce internal growth this year of 1.1% would we all try to do it?


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## dahamsta (24 Jun 2011)

I think the issue with 2 is that people don't have €20 extra a week. I certainly don't.


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## bluemac (24 Jun 2011)

Yes some people dont have the extra money right now at this point I dont, But according to stats people here are currently saving more than the country is borrowing last year so a huge amount, which mean in general the extra €20 is easily there.


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## dahamsta (24 Jun 2011)

True, but the people that are saving are doing it for a reason. If it's not about here and now, it's preparing for worse again...


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## bluemac (24 Jun 2011)

yes but by saving everything are we not all heading for the worse?  
no one person can change it but if a clear strategy was put forward and the majority did it you can stop the worsted happening.  In my mind if we don't then we are just waiting for the next tax rise to take that €20 from us, if we spend it and jobs are created maybe we wont need the next tax rise.


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## Protocol (24 Jun 2011)

10 things to help the economy:

1 commercial rents to fall, some by 50%

2 LA rates to fall

3 legal fees to fall, some by 50%

4 med consultants fees to fall by 50%

5 GP fees to fall to 40 for a standard consultation

6 dental fees to drop

7 everybody to agree that low property prices are a *GOOD* thing

8 pension funds to invest in long-term infrastructure projects here

9 mortgages for 25 years max, with max LTV of 80-85%

10 more consumer spending is not necessarily a good thing


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## dahamsta (24 Jun 2011)

bluemac said:


> yes but by saving everything are we not all heading for the worse?



Not everyone is saving. Not everyone is spending. Such is life with economics. I just don't think we should be encouraging Joe Schmoe to go out and spend an extra €20 a week, I think we should be encouraging them to *stop *spending it on the Lotto and other nonsenses.


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## Pope John 11 (25 Jun 2011)

Yes, Its so sad to hear that Tesco are opening up some further stores creating some further jobs. This is not what Richard Bruton should vouching for. We need 100% irish owned stores, and I don't mean Dunne Stores.


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## Purple (25 Jun 2011)

Pope John 11 said:


> Yes, Its so sad to hear that Tesco are opening up some further stores creating some further jobs.


 Demand in that sector is not increasing so it will be a transfer of jobs from existing stores. We need business that create wealth.


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## Woodie (26 Jun 2011)

Pope John 11 said:


> Yes, Its so sad to hear that Tesco are opening up some further stores creating some further jobs. This is not what Richard Bruton should vouching for. We need 100% irish owned stores, and I don't mean Dunne Stores.


 
Tesco are responding to consumer demands that's how open markets work.  If people want to help in the real world where Tesco exists they could start buy buying Irish, sometimes a little more expensive sometimes not but usually the quality is top notch.  Ownership nationality is not the issue, the contribution to the economy is.


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## Sandals (26 Jun 2011)

4. Holiday in Ireland this year (some one need to say how this will help us)


Find it toooo expensive with a family of three kids, eating out, entrance fees, hotel accommodation etc.  

Got flights to norway for 5 for €184 this wouldnt go far in ireland.


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## Chris (27 Jun 2011)

dahamsta said:


> Not everyone is saving. Not everyone is spending. Such is life with economics. I just don't think we should be encouraging Joe Schmoe to go out and spend an extra €20 a week, I think we should be encouraging them to *stop *spending it on the Lotto and other nonsenses.



I fully agree. Bottom line is that Ireland needs to save more and spend less. Ireland is in trouble precisely because it went on a credit fueled spending spree which has led it to become one of the most indebted nations in the world when measured per capita. How could doing more of the same possibly produce a different outcome?
Spending is wealth destruction. You cannot create economic wealth by spending more. If that were the case then recessions would never be a problem. What makes countries more wealthy is production, and that is difficult to achieve. To balance the debt levels in this country, production will have to increase in the export sector, i.e. bring money in from outside. In order to promote investment in productive companies the best thing that can be done is:
1) reduce corporate tax rates to zero
2) reduce council charges
3) reduce capital gains tax
4) abolish employer PRSI
5) reduce DIRT

The average citizen needs to:
1) save and invest more for the future
2) spend more wisely
3) start a small business venture, even part time


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## dahamsta (27 Jun 2011)

Chris said:


> 3) start a small business venture, even part time



And we need government to support this, if not with money then with resources and a better social welfare setup for the self-employed. We also need to strike a balance between the Irish nonsense of not setting up a business for fear of failing, and the American nonsense of setting up businesses that are pretty much guaranteed to fail.


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## Fatphrog (27 Jun 2011)

Sandals said:


> 4. Holiday in Ireland this year (some one need to say how this will help us)
> 
> 
> Find it toooo expensive with a family of three kids, eating out, entrance fees, hotel accommodation etc.
> ...



That's just the flights. Good luck finding value for money in Norway. If anywhere in the world is more expensive than here, it's Norway.


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## Sandals (27 Jun 2011)

Fatphrog said:


> That's just the flights. Good luck finding value for money in Norway. If anywhere in the world is more expensive than here, it's Norway.



Accommodation worked out very reasonable, just under €100 a night for 5 in one room with breakfast, as I said the other day in some other discussion some hotels in Ireland still expecting us to book two rooms.  

last year paid €299 for one room in hotel just outside westport for 2 night BB.

Am aware Norway is expensive but still great opportunity and all that....


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## Berni (27 Jun 2011)

bluemac said:


> Yes some people dont have the extra money right now at this point I dont, But according to stats people here are currently saving more than the country is borrowing last year so a huge amount, which mean in general the extra €20 is easily there.


The trouble with the stats on saving, is that paying down loans also shows up as savings. 
There is a great post here which explains why savings levels going up doesn't actually mean there is a pot of spare money sitting around to be spent.
http://economic-incentives.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-are-we-saving.html


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## Chris (28 Jun 2011)

dahamsta said:


> And we need government to support this, if not with money then with resources and a better social welfare setup for the self-employed. We also need to strike a balance between the Irish nonsense of not setting up a business for fear of failing, and the American nonsense of setting up businesses that are pretty much guaranteed to fail.



The best support government can give is through less interference and a reform of bankruptcy laws, which I heard the other day is on the table. Entrepreneurs are well able to figure out how to best set up and run their business without government help.
Every attempt by government to actively "support" start ups (or any business for that matter) costs money that has to be taken out of the economy, including from start up businesses, in the first place.
I agree that there is a huge difference between the Irish and US attitude towards the risks of setting up a business and fear of failure. But government is not better able at assessing risk of failure and should not actively encourage or discourage any entrepreneur.


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## MrMan (28 Jun 2011)

Sandals said:


> Accommodation worked out very reasonable, just under €100 a night for 5 in one room with breakfast, as I said the other day in some other discussion some hotels in Ireland still expecting us to book two rooms.
> 
> last year paid €299 for one room in hotel just outside westport for 2 night BB.
> 
> Am aware Norway is expensive but still great opportunity and all that....



Yes some hotels in Ireland expect more than others, just like some hotels in Norway would expect you to do the same, so you look around and find a deal that suits your needs/budget. 
People still want to see new parts of the world and they should as they are spending their own money and living their own life, but we need to get away from the excuse that Ireland is too expensive to holiday in because it is a lot cheaper than before and like any family holiday, if you do a bit of planning you can do it on a budget.


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## flattea2 (28 Jun 2011)

No 11.

Stop constantly talking about the ‘recession’ all day every day of our lives. Its sad that’s it’s the only topic of conversation you hear sometimes, or more accurately that it is dropped into all sorts of completely different conversations. There are lots of other interesting things to talk about. I’m not refering to this thread, this is the kind of place to discuss it – but I do get annoyed for instance when I’m listening to sport on the radio, and somehow the commentator will manage to drop the word recession in. It would depress you further. Morning radio – looking for something lighthearted to start the day – again they will get the R word in somewhere.


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## browtal (7 Jul 2011)

*Buying Irish Furniture*

Could anybody recommend furniture stores, preferably in same location. Like Dublin, or Navan and what addresses.  I need to buy a few items. I would like good quality at good value recession prices.
Thanks Browtal


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## Sandals (8 Jul 2011)

Just a follow up. 

Norway is a fantastic city and well laid on for the tourist. Purchased a 72 hour pass for €125 approx. and it covered all transport, all 33 museums, entry into two outdoor/indoor swimming pools, entry into reptile park, discounts in certain food outlets etc.  

To go swimming here in Ireland i can easily pay up to €25 for a family of five. Food was expensive but I honestly didn't find it much more expensive then here. Coffee in a restaurant always offered a free refill, most we paid was €5 for a coffee and that was in a museum.

We did get a fab hotel deal that offered us 40% discount if booked so long in advance with a fabulous breakfast that allowed us to make a packed lunch from the buffet table - a practice everyone engaged in.  Our room had two pull down bunk bed type beds that were excellent for the kids, which could be easily clipped back up making the room huge but being honest we never did as family room was plenty big. The travel cot for baby was in room already (how many times have I landed in hotel in Ireland and no travel cot and even once when delivered late in the evening it was dumped on the floor to put together ourselves). (As for paying €299 we thought we'd treat ourselves and although the room was lovely as was the "€20 per night room with a view" the breakfast lovely it had no jacuzzi and service lacking, had better value in Travelodge Limerick for €9 a night).

Service absolutely fab, major museums had a line of buggys that our three year old could happily borrow.


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## Gordanus (15 Jul 2011)

bluemac said:


> 2. Spend €20 extra a week each household on something you would not normally get pref service related (meal out, coffee, go to the pub etc) (worth 416 Million)



Well, seeling that my salary has reduced by 400 pm and my mortgage has increased by 350 pm in the last 2 years, leaving me to find the extra 750, I'll be spending as little as possible.



bluemac said:


> 4. Holiday in Ireland this year (some one need to say how this will help us)



Yes, I'll be holidaying in Ireland - in my own home!



bluemac said:


> 5. cut down on buying in the north.



Never did buy stuff there - it's too far away.



bluemac said:


> 6. cut down on your online purchases from companies based abroad?



Are you nuts?! At this stage, I can't afford to be concerned about child labour/airmiles/ or anything else bar: is it worth the money? Do I really really need this?


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