some ideas into the mix. they might sound a bit offbeat but they are based on my observations on living in the UK and the differences with Ireland. i sense opportunity for any Irish company willing to step up and do these in the uk market:

1. nash’s red lemonade
only sold in a small little “world food” section in Asda. you cant get it anywhere else. why isnt it sold in Tesco in the main lemonade areas? theres a big opportunity there.

2. Big thick rashers.
i dont care who does these in ireland – but did you ever see what is on offer in Tesco over in the uk? very thin rashers. from Denmark.
Big thick Irish rashers are missing over here. Again someone needs to market this and push it. Comfort food for the recession?

3. Irish prime steak
Over here in the UK the ones who are in the premier league when it comes to steak are the Scots with their Angus steaks. Marketing is superb – in English minds, a good steak is a Scottish one, from the highlands. We should up the ante and compete with that.

4. Corner shop chains
In the UK , corner shop chains dont have what your local Spar or Centra has in Ireland – they dont have a bakery. No wine selection. They dont have a mini-deli counter. And certainly no “breakfast rolls”.

Walking into a Spar corner shop in Ireland was an amazing experience for me coming over from the UK. The difference was incredible, and the consumer experience was far far better than what i was used to in the UK. Again – that concept – of everything under one roof , but in mini-form, has not arrived in the UK to any great extent.

5. Tech tech tech.
It goes without saying that the Irish education system is in a league of its own compared to the UK system. Read in a newspaper today that almost 40 per cent of English students dont even get a GCSE.
Thats “Inter Cert”. British Labour Party has had a long term aim of getting 50 – yes FIFTY – per cent of youngsters into Third Level education. Its fair to say that we’re way ahead on that one.

Ireland has a very bright, very educated workforce – incubation of that is utterly key. Startups and VC funding utterly essential.

But what will boost the tech sector enormously is not the Dublin Metro scheme – the billions spent on that could be better spent on deregulating Eircom and rolling out a nationwide fibre network.

France is already ahead of us. Rural areas there can easily get 20 megabit internet. We need to catch up and overtake – quickly.

The Celtic Tiger debate is over , it was a credit pumped charade. The economic vacuum as a result of its inevitable demise is now clear.
The only counter argument, that the people in government who significantly responsible for its creation, can now state, is that the current economic malaise is a global one.
It is certainly true that the global economic contraction , expedited the eradication of the Irish wealth facade, but create the facade it did not.
And put Ireland in an economic deterioration far worse than any other western country, it did not either.
I don’t believe any intelligent observer could dispute this reality, although this is a comment section on David McWilliam’s articles , it has become more of a forum of Ideas.
It is encouraging that the reality of the economic situation does not seem to be lost on anyone here, and it is important that Idea’s are offered and debated.
With current exchequer figures published it seems , Idea’s are all we have left. In light of that,
Economic Rescue
1.New Government
To give any credibility to the proposition, that the people significantly responsible for leading Ireland into to this, unprecedented economic catastrophe, have any competence or capability to lead us out of it, is naivety in the extreme. The alternative parties do not offer much hope either, but they would in the very least be politically less compromised than the current incumbents. Ideally , the way we elect our national government would be severed from how we elect our local representatives to parliament, it would create a greater opportunity, to have really competent, experienced and impressive candidates on the ballot, and would give each citizen an opportunity to vote directly for their preference. Any current alternative will be a seasoned career Dail occupant , unavoidably connected to the cronyism and political compromise that the current electoral system requires.

2.Radical Reform of the Public Service
Any independent observer can attest to the gross inefficiencies, in the Irish public Sector, such inefficiencies are not new, a rare positive here, is that there is now an opportunity for radical reform. We need a new framework, a directly accountable, transparent system and a new culture of efficiency in the Irish public sector. I fully appreciate the fact, that many individuals within the public sector are most efficient, but overall the figures speak for themselves

3.Reduction of Public expenditure
In conjunction with 2 above , quite simply Ireland needs to restore its parity with other developed countries with regard to the cost of providing public services. All but the most essential services need to be cut, it needs to be radical, equitable and it needs to be rapid. Clearly this decision has been made for government already.

4.Tax reform
We need to raise taxes, the previous model worked with the unsustainable government revenues from the credit pumped construction & property charade. In the long run, culturally I believe a low tax Economy has to be our goal but as it stands, it is beyond the political debate, it is again a decision that has been made for government already.
Taxation needs to increase now.

5. Banks
This is arguably the most difficult situation economically, there are so many significant domestic and international factors to take into consideration . It is unprecedented , it contradicts almost every axiom of fairness, equity and basic economic efficiency, not to allow the market deal with each banks in a reflex commensurate with each banks level of corruption and incompetence. I believe that there is a lot of Mantra analysis here, we are a very small economy, It would not be unprecedented , to create a new banks and do so by a temporary takeover of both AIB and BOI eradicating all senior management, taking all speculative property debt off their balance sheet into a separate asset management entity, and then commit the proposed levels of recapitilisation, with entirely new management and temporarily imposed objectives in terms of supplying credit to otherwise sustainable domestic business. (It is important to note that many business’s in Ireland complaining of a lack of credit are unsustainable regardless of credit or not, it is after all the provision of credit to unsustainable enterprise that has created the current economic mess)

6. Counter cyclical economics
It is irrelevant at this stage to discuss how different our position would be if we had an economically competent government that practiced counter cyclical economics and acted to deflate the construction/property bubble. But the most labour intensive capital investments that will create national assets for deacades to come must began. If this country is really on the fast track to 2nd world status , we might as well borrow the money and build up our capital assets. The entrepreneurial nature of Irish people means that once we have a country fully equipped to 21st century standards,to do business with the outside world, business will be done. There are countless micro examples of this such as Stockbyte, Fineos….. . Additionally investments to deal with the impending environmental challenges need to be taken .Such investments need to be made and made now , and in so doing will be counter cyclical to the public expenditure reduction and the overall economic contraction. There needs to be a sophisticated process of identifying capital investments to fulfill “knowledge economy”, Environmental and current counter unemployment objectives. The global economy is in contraction, in this downtime we need to make the capital investments , to offest unemployment and achieve our long term sustainable economic goals. Such is the nature of the current situation , the further risks of borrowing this money for such investment , is minimal. If we are going down , lets go down having put capital assets on this Island that can be used for the decades to come.
It would be a lot more reassuring to see 8 billion going into such investments than into the hands of Messr’s Sheey and Goggin.

Right now, we must ask ourselves , what do we do in Ireland? Fortunately in answering that question , it is obvious, that they’re is a lot of industrial areas we co “do”. We are never going to undercut China (or many others) in manufacturing cost’s. We are never going to supply global industry with much in the way of Raw materials, but we can compete with anyone, in terms of our human capital. Again fortunately we are a small country living in a small world. In the digital age there is an array of activity that could be conducted in Ireland and traded all over the globe. It is beyond the scope of this to get into real detail, but I am sure anyone here can propose many different examples of such enterprise. Of course and again with current government, the mantra’s abound here “Knowledge Economy…..”. There has been little or no serious investment in actually achieving this, it is after all, the “knowledge” economy, so an unprecedented detailed global market knowledge of appropriate investment opportunities is required. A clearly specified and target focused national effort is needed, it is I believe our only chance, but we have a good chance of actually achieving this when (and we have to believe it will or else lets give up) the global economy rebounds
On a micro level there are countless examples of such successin Ireland already, Stockbyte, Fineos (both on businesslunch.ie!) and indeed many others, are all companies that achieved huge growth independent of the credit pumped construction charade, that so many other “entrepreneurs” proffessed. We need investment and a comprehensive rapidly deployed policy to create dominant industries of such companies that in aggregate will become our Irish economy.
Additionally we should be trying , possibly in terms of public private investment, to create our own Irish Global Industry leaders. As documented by the success of the Scandinavians in this regard.

This is the only way I see forward ,

constructive criticism of the ideas expressed are most welcome

1. The D of F ,Central Bank,Regulator must employ whatever expertise thay require,and put in place all the necessary stops and checks in place to make themselves and this Economy as bullitproof as is humanly possible. 2.Anglo to be charged with the responsibility to manage down all non-performing and distressed loans with the aid of newly appointed personnell with the expertise and resources by way of funding and insurances,levy’s from other Banks etc and managed over a time frame. Result’s orientated incentives and daily updated audited and verified accounting practices should be employed to expediate these matters.3.AIB and BOI to become the systemic backbone of Irish Banking with the following provisions enforcible by statute.Low cost and properly stress tested, accounts verified and credit history checked etc. loans and finance to be made available to Consumers,Buisness,Students etc and all others qualifying under above terms.4. Total ban on AIB & BOI lending for speculation,including purchase of securities on margin,leveraged buyouts,leveraged hedge funds,derivatives trading and all other exotic and potentially toxic financial vehicles to be outlined by the Regulatory bodies as unsuitable for Banks which are systemic to the Economy of Ireland………… Now David there’s a wheel I’ll put my shoulder to.(non-negotiable instrument)

Back of beermat SWOT analysis of Ireland:
Strengths
Good natural resources -wind, wave, soil, climate
Excellent potential for innovative agriculture
People friendly and open…the “meitheal” still exists (i lived in UK for years, major contrast)
Relatively well educated (for the moment)
Strategic position between Europe & US, in terms of language and geography
Low population density
People here (i’m talking working classes) have a problem solving mentality (often ignored)

Weaknesses
CRONYISM
begrudgery
post-colonial inferiority complex
innovative & problem solving empolyed in “cute-hoorness” rather than productive economic activity

Opportunities
World energy crisis looming (oil running out)
Need for cheap & innovative solutions to service human need (food, warmth, medicine, health etc)

Threats
Massive national debt
Out of control public spending
World recession/depression

So what do we do?
Unfortunately our options are limited and draconian because of where we are but all or most of what follows Has to be implemented for a period of 3 years see where we are then
1- A national government
2- Declaration of a national emergency ( along with an apology for getting us here in the first place )
3- A cap on all public sector pay 150K ( including any company getting state aid )
4- All expenses stopped you live on your salary like everyone else in the real world
5- Pensions paid when you reach 65 for entire public service
6- 39 hour working week min
7- No Overtime ( your on a salary you don’t get paid overtime like everyone in the real world)
8- No striking public and private ( its a job stupid )
9- No union membership ( you already have the best pension and conditions )
10- 20% to 30% pay cut for all public service.
11- All semi states to be sold by 2011 at earliest ( price would be appalling now )
12- Health service reform switch to state insurance
13- Tax and welfare systems integrated people are waiting months for welfare after job loss not acceptable.
14- Schools open a 8am close at 6pm ( with teachers present to supervise )
15- School days extended by 20%.
16- Put the PUBLIC back into public service

ITS a start but only a start

I think Tim is making a list somewhere of what should happen next, so I’ll throw my two cents into the mix.

1. We need a government that wants to lead. I don’t care of they’re popular, I don’t even care if I don’t agree with their policies, I just want to know what they intend to do so I can plan with their plan in mind.

2. That we need more effective regulation goes without saying, but we also have to decide what kind of society we are and regulate for that. Utopian visions are good for student meetings and science fiction, but pointless when you bring humans into the mix.

3. We have to be willing to pay more. By this I mean income taxes. We all benefitted from the housing/construction boom even if we don’t want to admit it. Mr. McCreevy couldn’t have maintained such low income tax rates without the reciepts from construction. That ship has now sailed. and left a big hole behind it. So either accept much higher income taxes, or much lower social services.

4. The international economy is out of our hands. We can do nothing about it, so lets stop worrying about it. If it picks up, it will make recovery here easier, if it collapses we’ll go down with it. Mostly we’re in a spectator role. Frustrating, but I’d rather put my energies into what I have some control over.

5. My last point is a little vague, but I hope you’ll understand what I’m getting at. I’ve travelled a bit and the one thing I can say about us Irish is that we don’t take ourselves too seriously compared to many other nations. This is not a good thing. It is time for us to be boring, and to try a little efficiency. Just for a laugh.

Ok, point 5. is terribly aspirational, but I hope you get the picture of where I am on all this.

And if the government (whoever they are) aren’t up to the job, then I have a new one for them. Laissez-nous la paix.

Let’s stick to a few lighthouses [principles the keep us from going on the rocks]:

(1) Stay democratic, stay committed to the hard work of working with people rather than taking over from them. People have had a very long time of being led by corrupt politicians and their ruling class. It’ll take time for people to fully realise how much they have been misled and betrayed. It’s our job to think and talk, and go down to the pub listening and showing people what we’ve been fortunate to find out.

(2) Let’s organise, put some structure on our thinking – even if the structure we use is virtual. Let’s tolerate the slow pace of change but turn it to good use. There is a place for a devastating critique of how we got here. Critique without mercy, thorough forensic examination of all the wrongdoing. But let’s do it without losing the capacity to love the sinner who repents. Forgive me I’m not a believer. But we can destroy the culture of the past without destroying the people. It’s fair to insist they resign and lose almost all their wealth because they have been found out to be dishonest in their dealings. If the leadership was there, those people could be removed from office without compensation. Some of them might find it hard to live in Ireland if there was a thorough shakeup.

(3) Let’s help, help those who may be thinking about taking over, who may be encouraged to be courageous. There will be other demonstrations. It’s been done in other countries recently not far from here. We’ll probably need the existing political parties. Fine Gael and Labour are untested in these waters. Perhaps even a section of Fianna Fail will make a move towards respectability. But we here are called to do more than say things are really bad. This is not a metaphysical conjunction. It’s a difficult turning point in our daily lives. David’s right to say we don’t want to emigrate again. However we have experience of it and many will do it again.

(4) Let’s value our education: we can’t be fobbed off so easily. Let’s ensure there’s such pressure in favour of basic education that every citizen gets a decent start in life. I don’t mean to neglect other levels, but there are too many illiterate and innumerate people here.

(5) Let’s be political: engage with the politicians, debate with them, convince them, show them their contradictions. Insist they listen to us. Insist they engage. How many of them are blogging? Facebooking? Let’s go on their sites and engage. I say this while still being in favour of demanding Mr Lenihan resign. Engage with the trade union leaders. Those of you who blame them, argue your case, at length. Criticise them for not leading better. Look how disgraceful FAS got with TU reps on that Board. Think what a terrible embarrassment they must be to David Begg.

(6) If you are serious about being hopeless, spell it out, with all your reasons. Otherwise buy a doll to bash. We need your best side for this work.

If Enterprise Ireland (who part-funded the Graduate Enterprise Programme I participated in, in Cork 1999-2000) had the imagination to ask me a few years after starting the venture, to advise people who are in the same situation as I was in for those five or so years that I spent selling my idea (unsuccessfully as it happens), it would save E.I. and the startup companies themselves thousands of euros and probably months of crucial time-to-market (the time during which most of these types of companies fail). I have never been asked to recycle the extraordinary lessons that I learned from this exercise. The fact that I failed is seen as a negative- but actually the opposite is true.

The above is an example of how (in general, not always) Enterprise Ireland, like so many government agencies, aims at all the wrong targets. What they need to do is get the right information from the right people and not sit in their offices going…. “Nah….. that idea won’t work….” like, maybe an idea won’t work but why not find someone who has some idea of what they are talking about and let THEM say it won’t work…

DMcW is right, but so is Original-Ed. The fact that DMcW was right about the impending crash, whilst the government and the banks wouldn’t listen to him or others who were talking sense is another prime example of the same stupidity and laziness that is rife in many of our public and private services.

1) Financially:
Let the banks fall. The new bank could start in the Post Office, there is already an infrastructure there. They don’t know much about lending, but we can hire new loan officers. Or start a brand new bank. The same rules apply. I’ll go with David on this.

2) Salaries / Benchmarking
The only way to prevent this type of disaster recurring is to break with the idea of share-price dictating senior executives’ renumeration. Benchmarking, pay rises based on percentages are a mistake. Flat rises would be far more equitable. (100K salary + 5% = 105K, 20K salary + 5% = 21K, the difference between the wealthy and the lower paid grows larger with every pay increase).

3) Politically:
The other thing to prevent recurrence is to never ever vote for a party with corruption at its core. Never vote Fianna Fail again. Never vote the parochial politics of the “independent” any more. No more Healy Rays and the “importance of South Kerry”. We need a new political system. The country is small enough for national elections, no need for local politicians at national level. We would need turkeys to vote for Christmas though.

4) Enforcement
Immediately – Allow the CAB in to freeze the assets of those they suspect to have committed criminal activity. If the assets are not frozen, they’ll be in Switzerland or Cayman before we can get to them (if not already there).

5) Longer term – No more tribunals. Expand the power of the Garda Fraud Squad. A billion (we spent more on the ineffectual tribunals) would have bought a white collar investigative unit a lot of manpower to investigate and examine the corruption in planning that faciliated the entire property ponzi scheme.

5.5) Alternatively, and I make no apologies for saying this – emigrate. Let the country wallow in it’s own excrement. Why work for a country that screwed you? I am not a patriot or a nationalist. I’m in it for me, and the greater good in that order. There’s no shame in emigrating a second time.