The Emerald Agenda for Change

The Emerald Agenda

For Change

Banking:-

Ireland is in the throes of a massive banking crisis. Some or nearly all of our banks are in major difficulty. This has created a huge problem for Ireland in the International Market. It is becoming increasingly difficult for Ireland to raise money on International Markets as speculators weigh up the risk of Ireland as an investment opportunity. This is exacerbated by the fact that two years after this crisis broke the current Government and Minister of Finance are still nowhere near putting a final figure on the Bail-Out cost for Anglo Irish Bank.

“The Emerald Party” proposes that Ireland caps its BAIL OUT contribution to all banks at €20 Billion Euro or 50% of its cost whichever is the less. We are all aware of small and medium sized business going into liquidation on a daily basis. There is no mercy shown to these companies or individuals. Assets are sold off at liquidated prices and creditors are proportionately compensated. Banks and Bond Holders seem to be treated completely in another way. If they made poor or totally bad investment judgements then the tax payer must BAIL THEM OUT. There is absolute no loss to the banks or bond holders in this current process.

Banks are PRIVATE INSTITUTIONAL BUSINESS. They are in the banking business to make money and especially to make alot of money. We can all remember our two older and main banks returning profits of nearly €1 Billion per year, then per half year and later still per quarter. All this profit dragged out of a small economy of 4 million people. Then they lost the run of themselves and started to take more and more risks. Pay their chief executives €4 / 5 Million per year, and lo and behold when they get into trouble their first port of call was Dail Eireann. The same banks are treating small and medium sized business with distain. They are treating mortgage holders in arrears with contempt and doing their level best to penalize traditional mortgage holders to compensate the said banks for their stupidity in buying into the tracker mortgage craze.

So “The Emerald Party” proposes the above policy. The money saved can be pumped into small / medium sized enterprises, capital spending projects, the smart economy and alternative energy sources, to create jobs and wealth in this country again. In brief we propose the following:-

·       Cap the total bank bailout at €20 Billion proportionally

·       Sell off all Government shares in all banks to the open market

·       Facilitate a third banking force in Ireland

·       Welcome in foreign banks

·       Extend the capacity of The Credit Union

·       End the bank guarantee scheme immediately

·       Tax at 95% any/all salaries / bonuses / benefit in kind, paid to bank executives over €500K /year

·       Put a levy on all bank transactions to fund Irelands 0.7% contribution to 3^rd World Aid Programmes

·       To draft up a new banking constitution that absolves the state from future bailouts.

·       To direct the DPP to protect the interest of this state in relation to all banking matters.

·       To cut all non business ties between Government and The Banking Sector in this State

·       To implement a New Banking Code of Practice in Ireland guided by the Enforcer of Corporate Affairs, The Central Bank and The Banking Regulator.

Finance:-

The Government is to immediately set up a National Recovery Fund of €5Billion. This fund is to be matched with equal and additional funding from the Banks. The purpose of this fund is to get this economy working again, to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the small and medium sized enterprises. The Government will also fund and re-energize the IDA and Enterprise Ireland to seek out and secure massive international investment in Ireland. They will target specifically The SMART economy, the Green economy, the FOOD sector and the ENERGY sector. The Government also proposes the following interim measures that will take immediate effect and remain in force for a minimum of 5 years.

·       Banks and Mortgage providers are to be prevented from re-possessing homes. Meaningful negotiations are to be entered into with mortgagees and a holing scheme is to be put in place until the economy is back in sustainable growth.

·       A special Mortgage relief fund is to be set up to help couples who are in dire straits financially.

·       A special task force comprising of the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance, the deputy Minister for Finance, The Governor of The Central Bank and The Financial Regulator is to be set up to address the issue of personal debt and debt management. This group will look specifically at such measures as debt forgiveness, or part forgiveness, the bankruptcy laws and the fast tracking and streamlining of same as well as the huge issue of negative equity.

·       The Government will also introduce a blanket ban on all utility providers from turning off power supplies to their customers. An independent regulatory body will be set up funded by the utility providers to address this issue. In the future only those who will not pay rather than those who are doing their best to pay will have their service stopped.

Enterprise / Employment:-

The Government is to set itself as TOP PRIORITY the rebuilding of the economy. Every effort and every scheme will be employed to get people back to work. Enterprise and entrepreneurial efforts will be assisted in whatever way possible.

Enterprise Boards across the country will be directed to help new start ups, help create additional employment in existing business and support and encourage as much as possible small to medium sized business.

Special areas of interest will be targeted. These include the FOOD Industry, the SMART economy, the GREEN economy; the alternative ENERGY sector, TOURISM as well as COMMUNITY backed projects.

The Government is to set up task forces in all regions. These will be hosted by the current Enterprise Boards and will invite in local banks, the credit union and business leaders in the area. This will take immediate effect and its task will be to create 1000 jobs in each area within its first 6 months of operation. Its function will be to identify opportunities in the market place and to assist and encourage new enterprises to fill those niche markets. Some of the new enterprises could be import replacement projects.

A new scheme is to be introduced to encourage all existing small and medium sized business to take on at least one new person. Special tax allowances will apply to facilitate this scheme

Finance to help start ups will be generated through the Enterprise Boards working closely with the banks, the credit union and the Government Recovery Fund. Weekly meetings are to be held and an attitude of urgency and delivery to be the hallmarks of the new task force groups.

Health Care:-

Health care has been prioritized so many times by so many Governments it has become just a cliché. However this Government will really once and for all address the issues with our Health service and deliver a quality of care that is second to none.

Our current Health Service is TOP HEAVY, full of pen pushers, administrators, accountants and RED Tape. The biggest job in the current health service is to cover ones backside. Nobody will take responsibility for anything. There are enquiries after enquiries, cover ups after cover ups and were just going nowhere with it.

The HSE is to be dismantled and a whole new structure is to be established with its sole aim to provide state of the art care for the people of this country. It will be based on the Danish / Canadian system. It will be PATIENT driven with full emphasis on FRONTLINE services rather than office staff.

The Government is to set up a task force comprising of the Minister for Health, the deputy Minister for Health, the Minister for Finance, Senior Consultants, Junior Doctors, GP’s and Nurses. Its task will be to deliver this new service within 2 years. In the interim the orderly rundown of the HSE will commence.

It will be focused on the removal of administrative staff and the ensuring that frontline staff remains unchanged during this transition period. The overall focus is that Ireland and the Irish people will have the quality health service that they deserve and will stop for once and for all the continuous bungling that’s been incessant for decades in the health service.

The Government will promote a healthy lifestyle for the people of Ireland. So expect very HEAVY TAXES on cigarettes and alcohol.

Social Welfare:-

The Government will ensure that all those legitimately without work will be catered for. However it will tackle vigorously all abuses in the system. With immediate effect the following policies will apply:-

·       Any emigrants from whatever country will not automatically qualify for social assistance

·       Only persons who have worked in Ireland for a period not less than two years will qualify for assistance

·       Fly in collections of Social welfare will be stopped.

·       Social welfare will not be paid to persons living in another state

·       People over 6 months on social welfare will need to provide at least 20 hours of community service to qualify for continual payment of benefit

·       A rigorous campaign to cut out fraud will be implemented

Communities:-

The new Government will be COMMUNITY focused and will support and encourage communities throughout the country. It will encourage community projects, community development and will look to the communities up and down the country to provide local leadership and enterprise.

Our elderly will be treated with respect and dignity. Every effort will be made to involve our aging population in all aspects of community life. We will encourage our elderly to share their life experience with our youth and to guide them and help them achieve even greater things in their own lives.

Farming / Rural Affairs:-

The importance of farming and rural communities to Ireland will be recognized by this Government. Our strong farming tradition needs to be fostered and encouraged to create jobs rather than to be stifled and stagnate. This Government will, with the help of the farming community create 50,000 additional jobs in agriculture over the next 5 years. Areas to be developed are:-

·       Bio –fuels

·       Sugar Beet as a fuel

·       Reforestation

·       Food Crops

·       World supplier of quality food

·       Cottage industries in food and crafting

A proper rural community transport system needs to be put in place and the survival of rural Ireland is to be a TOP PRIORITY.

Food Sector:-

As mentioned above one of Irelands greatest asset is its FOOD INDUSTRY. We need to build on our strengths as a quality food producer by expanding our product range, developing up new niche markets, developing quality brands and also ensuring QUALITY as a top priority.

WE will set up an online sales and marketing strategy so that quality Irish produce can be sold and delivered with confidence anywhere in the World. This shall be achieved in one year.

Tourism:-

This Government is fully committed to the tourism sector. Ireland has wonderful natural resources that money could not by. A wonderful rugged landscape, thousands of miles of breathe taking coastline, unspoilt rivers and lakes. We need to build on our strengths. We are also a very welcoming people, taking care of our visitors needs in a friendly and polite way.

We are also blessed with our music heritage, our writers, story tellers, out cultural tradition and we need to really build upon these solid rocks of interest. Ireland has a truly long and while at sometimes dark history it is still none the less colourful and invigorating. We need to build on our HISTORY by creating further interest, study groups and role playing villages.

More and more visitors to our shores are looking for real life experiences of our heritage rather than visiting interpretative centres and museums. We will set up a special task force under the leadership of the Minister for Tourism. Its target will be to market Ireland and to double our number of visitors in 5 years. They are to come up with creative and innovative ideas in how to expand our tourist numbers and how to get people to stay longer hear and revisit. The task force will invite in leaders from the hospitality trade to help with developing the business plan for the industry for the next 5 years.

Ireland can also position itself as a centre of learning and excellence in Life Science. Our outstanding Universities can be channelled into proving education to hundreds of thousands of foreign students who may go on to settle here, or start up business here in the future. We certainly have enough free accommodation in this country to house them and it could also provide an ideal solution to the so called “ghost villages” around the country. This stock of houses could be held in the national interest for 10 / 20 years and later sold off to private individuals.

Civil Service:-

Our civil service needs to be massively reformed. It has become a colossus over the past 10/15 years and no longer serves the real needs of our people. It needs to be streamlined, refocused and rededicated to providing real services that communities and individual need.

This Government wants to restore the pride and service of a vibrant, serving civil service. We are all part of the one community and the civil service plays a major role in helping our citizens in need. Let’s restore the civil service to its former glory and its true purpose in society.

Green Economy:-

Ireland has massive opportunities to enhance and develop its GREEN Economy. It can be achieved by focusing on the following points as well as many others:-

·       Wind Power Generation

·       Sea wave power generation

·       Thermal Energy

·       Solar Power

·       Bio-Fuels

·       Renewable  Energy supplies ( Wood for example )

·       Energy conservation

·       Energy Recovery Systems

·       Growing crops like Hemp & Sugar Beet

·       Insulation

·       Reduction in number of cars / trucks

Smart Economy:-

Ireland has a golden opportunity to develop its SMART Economy also. It can do this by focusing on these and other ideas:-

·       Developing informational hubs

·       Developing non- invasive Social Media opportunities

·       Life-Science Research & Development

·       Robotics

·       Mobile applications

·       Next Generation Information medium

·       Creating Entrepreneurial & Innovative Forums

Education:-

As mentioned earlier Ireland can become a centre of learning on a global scale. We need to build on our university status and bring our controls and standards to the supreme height. This alone could make Ireland’s future very bright. Alot of foreign students could go on to actually work and live full time in Ireland thereby contributing massively to its development and future.

We also need to look critically at our primary and second level systems and ask ourselves honestly if they are serving our youth and preparing them in the best way for adult life. There have been some reports carried out on this subject and rather than carrying out another report we would suggest setting up a committee to make a final decision on the subject and plan for implementation within 12 months.

Foreign Affairs:-

Ireland needs to play a leading role internationally especially in the furtherance of peace and conflict resolution.

Strategic Planning / Development:-

Ireland needs to develop a short, medium and long term plan for its social and economic development. This should be completed and presented for approval within 12 months.

Creativity / Entrepreneurial ship:-

Ireland needs to encourage and foster a climate of Creativity and Entrepreneurial-ship. A special forum needs to be established so that people with creative ideas have the opportunity to discuss and develop them. Local Enterprise Boards can assist at this level by providing confidential forum for the discussion and development of new and innovative ideas.

People with ideas need to be acknowledged and honoured rather than being vilified and ridiculed. This Government plans to set up a rewards structure for such creative individuals and will honour them nationally as well as financially. This country needs people with ideas and this Government will support and foster this.

There are many members of communities up and down the country who do Trojan work and deliver daily sacrifices for their communities. These people also need to be rewarded and recognized. This Government proposes the setting up of a Presidential Reward Scheme to honour such sterling endeavours.

Justice / Defence / Law Reform:-

Ireland needs a radical overhaul of its legal and justice system. Under the new Minister for Justice a review group will be established to deliver the required reforms with 2 years. Areas to be covered including many others are:-

·       Criminality and Subservice Groups

·       Drugs

·       Financial regulation

·       Modernization of all laws

·       Prisons

·       Role of Army

·       Role of Garda

·       Traffic Police

·       Emigration

·       Citizenship

·       Children’s Rights

·       Asylum Seekers

·       Abuse

·       Bullying

Sport:-

Ireland has contributed enormously to the field of sport on an international basis. Based on our population base we have delivered well beyond the respected norms. Internationally we excel in Golf, Sailing, Soccer, Rugby, Boxing, Cycling and Exploring. It is time for Ireland to capitalize on these fantastic achievements. We could set ourselves the Goal of Hosting the Olympic Games in 2024 or 2028 to mark our 100 year as a Nation and to set the standard for this country for the next century and beyond. Together as a COMMUNITY we can achieve whatever goals we set ourselves.