17 public initiatives from Ideas Campaign to be adopted

THE Government plans to adopt 17 initiatives for economic recovery submitted by a campaign that encouraged members of the public to submit ideas to tackle the financial crisis.

The Ideas Campaign, launched by AMAS, a consultancy firm with at least 20 public sector clients, published an action plan in May and submitted 44 specific ideas to Government out of more than 5,000 submissions received over a two-month period.

Yesterday, Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Conor Lenihan said the Government was impressed by the quality of the suggestions made.

“The Government is keen to action as many of these ideas as quickly as possible and has identified 17 which it can support at this stage. Many of the other ideas warrant further analysis and attention and I propose to bring forward further proposals in relation to those over the coming months,” he said.

The ideas being adopted include:

* Create a new volunteer corps to engage the unemployed in community and voluntary work here and internationally, without losing unemployment benefits.

Other suggestions include * Build capacity and awareness in community and voluntary groups to enable them to “employ” volunteers effectively.

* Review integrated initiatives to derive maximum value from the public sector property portfolio through utilising vacant space.

* Make changes to jobseekers’ allowance to incentivise placement of graduates * Provide a one-stop-shop virtual helpdesk for start-ups with advice on legal, HR, patents, and accountancy issues.

* Develop a coherent “Ireland” brand for education in order to draw more international students to our third-level institutions

* Increase further education and training opportunities for the unemployed.

A spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said while some of the initiatives were cost neutral, others would have costs involved. She said many of the initiatives had already been started by the Government.

Aileen O’Toole, founder of the Ideas Campaign, said it was encouraging that the Government had responded so positively and so comprehensively to the ideas submitted by ordinary people.

She said the action plan was not intended solely for Government to implement but also for business and voluntary organisations, as well as individuals.

“The plan has been circulated to over 300 interested parties and has been extensively downloaded from the campaign website,” she said.