The Ideas Campaign welcomed the response by the Government about implementing ideas generated through the Ideas Campaign.
The campaign’s founder Aileen O’Toole, Managing Director of AMAS, said it is encouraging that the Government has responded so positively and so comprehensively to the ideas submitted by Irish citizens. She added that the decision to immediately action 17 specific ideas in the campaign will have a positive impact on Ireland, both economically and socially.
Other Government commitments, to analyse the feasibility of other ideas in the action plan and to carry out six-monthly implementation reviews, are also highly positive, she said.
Before the campaign was launched on 5 March, Aileen O’Toole received a commitment from An Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD that the campaign’s action plan “would be fast-tracked to the Cabinet committee on Economic Renewal for assessment and implementation, where appropriate.” The plan, which was published on 14 May, was considered in detail by the Cabinet committee and by government departments in advance of last week’s Cabinet decision on its implementation.
All the main political parties have endorsed the Ideas Campaign and have welcomed the recommendations made in the action plan, which was produced by a high-level Advisory Group comprising representatives from business, policy, academia, the arts and the voluntary sector.
Aileen O’Toole said that 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. The Ideas Campaign is aware that organisations, businesses and other parties have been reviewing the plan and taking steps to implement some of the ideas.
Implementation of the actions by the Government, organisations and businesses is a powerful endorsement of this independent citizens’ campaign to create ideas for economic recovery and to help stimulate a different type of national discussion about the Irish economy, Aileen O’Toole stated.
The Ideas Campaign, an independent initiative by citizens for citizens, was launched in March and was designed to capture people’s ideas for stimulating Ireland’s economy. The non-political campaign was conceived and funded by AMAS.
The online campaign received close on 5,300 ideas during March when 48,000 visits were recorded to the campaign website. The campaign has received extensive national and international media coverage.
Full details of the campaign, the action plan and the statements of support are available on the campaign website.
Read more background on the campaign.
