Preliminary results from our attempt to engage our political leaders

You know we're apolitical at ThinkIrish.ie.  Our campaign supporters are from every walk of life, every race, religion and political persuasion.  We like it that way.  And we'll engage with anyone who is willing to help us.
Over the last couple of weeks we wrote via email to 164 TDs (are we missing two?) asking for their help to generate the 20,000 new jobs we're targeting.  We thought you might be interested in what that's resulted in so far.
How many replies would you have expected to get?  Let's remind ourselves that we're talking about job creation in an economy that desperately needs it and a reply that involves no more effort than simply hitting "reply" on the screen and penning a couple of lines.
Would all of them see fit to acknowledge our request?  Surely half of them at least?
How about just 24 to date.  That's just 15%! And of the 24 that did reply, 15 did so with plenty of "well-dones" and "keep it ups" but no concrete engagement to date.  No firm proposal on what they could do to help move the campaign forward.

Which leaves us (to date) with 9.  Nine elected leaders who have engaged with us and have offered assistance.  For most it's an undertaking to get the word out locally within their constituency. For a few, it's real and demonstrable support.  Notables in this elite pile include Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey (Fianna Fail TD for Meath West) who provided a link on his site (see pic).  Fine Gael's Sean Barrett for Dunlaoghaire who asked his parliamentary secretary to pay a visit to us here at ThinkIrish.ie and collected a box of car stickers for his clinic.  Thomas Byrne, Fianna Fail TD from Meath East who met with us and has offered to put his support behind the campaign and Arthur Morgan, Sinn Fein TD for Louth who we also met with and is promising support.  We'll keep you posted on what transpires.   But our supporter of the week award must surely go to the independent TD for Dublin North Central, Finian McGrath who took our cause to the floor of Dail Eireann this week - all captured in this video link   


Now we recognise that it's early days.  It could well be the case that we have a number of political leaders working up a comprehensive reply and plan of support that they'll get across to us in the next week or so.  Happy to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.  It would be pretty shameful however if the end result of our political appeal was the 5% who have actually done something for us.
In a few weeks time, we'll circulate a "Final Results" sheet so you can see the detail around the actual responses by each of our political leaders on both sides of the house.  In the meantime, if you come across one of your elected representatives - you might ask them what they're doing to help you make a success of ThinkIrish.ie - and let us know!

There's a new competition live on the Win! tab of our facebook page.  Lots of goodies from Green Angel to be won if you can find the Star Product within the product directory.
Sunday and Monday look like being the best days (weather wise) over the bank holiday - so enjoy!

ThinkIrish.ie

You Can't Film That in Here and Much More

What a week!  Yesterday saw us out on our first guerrilla tagging session.   Some of the footage is just priceless. Thankfully one of our supporters “happened” to be shopping with a flippy camera at the time  and managed to catch it all. It was brilliant, calls were being made through to head office and the security guards didn’t know what to do. This really played to our advantage because we got loads of time and great footage. Off we popped down to an off licence after that, but we didn’t last too long there unfortunately. A big thanks to our volunteers, Jeff, Sarah, Paddy and Joe, they played an absolute stormer. Watch the video below and we’d encourage any of our supporters to get involved with it. Just drop us a line and we’ll send out the stickers to you.

   And finally, it’s competition time. We’ve had some great suggestions from our fans for our Star Product competition and we’ve some really great prizes lined up as well. Our first giveaway has been very kindly donated to us by Mary Young from the Killary Adventure Centre in Connemara. We’re giving away a weekend for 2 on the rugged shores of the Killary Fjord on the border of counties Mayo and Galway. While there, our lucky winner and their guest can avail of all things adventure. Whether it’s windsurfing, sailing, hiking or cycling that tickles your fancy, the Killary Adventure Centre has it all under one roof. From the picnic benches outside the Killary Adventure Centre there are interrupted views all the way down the Fjord and out into the Atlantic Ocean. I have heard that on a clear day you can see all the way to New York...... well, maybe InishBoffin.  It truly is a spectacular place and a great way to spend a weekend. Some of the other prizes gathered this week include hampers from Fragrances of Ireland, Green Angel hampers, and a magnificent decanter donated to us by our friends and supporters  Thomas and Mammy Daly down in Kinsale Crystal. We’re all kicking ourselves in the office here that we can’t win these prizes ourselves.

 To be in with a chance to win, just check out the “Win” tab on our Facebook page – everything you need to know is there.

  Anyway, the ash has cleared and our stranded countrymen and kinsmen are slowly but surely trekking back through the various arrivals halls around the country. I’d love to say that the country is getting back to normal, but the sun is still shining.......

Have a great weekend and enjoy the vid

 The Team @ Think Irish

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So, no firearms or prescription drugs then?

Ash cloud or not, the sun seems to be out for the weekend which has got to be good.  If the Icelandic Gods have upset any of your travel plans and you're feeling hard done by, spare a thought for Martin and Kirsten who are getting married today at the Inishshannon House Hotel.  Thing is, the bride is German and her entire family were due to fly in from Germany last night!  We hope at least some have managed to blag a seat with some kind truckers and make it here in time.  Congratulations to you both!

Heap of new companies took advantage of a free listing on ThinkIrish.ie this week.  We love the fabulous artisan products that the guys down in Longueville House are creating.  They do garden fruit liquers, apple brandy, pates, chutneys, smoked salmon, house blended spices and jams and preserves - all made on site.  They even have their own bees making their honey for them for crying out loud!  But what really caught our eye was the arrival of L'Onglex Nail Care products.  We love everything about them.  Great product, smart packaging, dynamic website and really active members of the online community.   We're putting them on our list of "Top 10 unexpected products you probably didn't realise could help you make the switch".  Need a snappier name for that list 'tho! L'Onglex is a really good example of how the ThinkIrish.ie product directory can be hugely helpful in finding ideas to help you make the €20 switch. Widely available in Dunnes, Superquinn, Spar, Mace, Londis and Costcutter too. If all that wasn't enough, just this week they won a coveted Image Magazine Beauty Award for being "one of the original and still the best nail polish removers.  It quickly dissolves polish and is amazing value"  Oh! and more importantly, it's made in Cork!


Middle of next week sees the launch of our "Star Products" competition which promises to be a lot of fun.  Thanks to everyone who sent us through ideas for what product they'd like to see their favourite celebrity endorse.  We'll be picking the best and using these to kick-start things so watch this space for a chance to win some great prizes.  Now just have to get to grips with the Facebook promotional guidelines which are not for the feint-hearted.  Apparently we can't offer "firearms or prescription drugs" as a prize!

Campaign numbers are growing strongly.  We might even close out the 2,000 mark by the end of the weekend which would be terrific - 31 new jobs and counting.

Thought you might like to see the stats on the left which show the location of our fanbase.  We think Limerick have thrown down the gauntlet to Cork and Galway.  Just sayin'...  Lovin' the 12 fans in Palo Alto too (home of facebook we believe).

Things are just gettin' started so if you haven't already joined us - what's keepin' you? No, seriously, what is keepin' you????

Have a really great weekend.

“Magic” numbers and ice cream diets – the economic science behind ThinkIrish.ie

In response to numerous queries, we felt now might be a good time to offer an explanation as to how this campaign works and just what the connection between switching €20 a week to Irish goods and services and the creation of 20,000 new jobs is.

This blog might look like it could get too serious and make difficult reading but we promise to try really hard to ensure it doesn’t. If you’re a student of economics, go put the kettle on as there’s nothing new for you here but for our non-economically minded campaign supporters here’s our abbreviated man-on-the-street explanation of just why this campaign makes real sense.

Important to explain at this point, we’re not economists. But we have been ably assisted by some of the best economists in the country – thanks to Alan Matthews and Corina Miller in TCD. We hope we’ve done your work some justice!

So, deep breath…

It all begins with a thing called a “multiplier” and more specifically, an “employment multiplier”. Basically, that’s a magic number that determines how many extra jobs can be created for a specific increase in spend on goods and services produced here in Ireland. Sounds complex enough but in fact all it’s actually doing is helping us to predict what the “ripple-effect” will be if we buy more of the stuff that’s produced here.

It works in a pretty straightforward way too. As Final Demand (that’s spending by you and me) increases, a kind of chain reaction of economic events is triggered. The initial effect of our new spending sets into motion a series of additional spending and respending activities.

Maybe the best way to explain this may be to give an example;

Let’s say the overall final demand for a locally made ice cream (we’re thinking Brioscaí Cookies & Cream from Murphy’s in Dingle!) increases significantly, say boosting sales by €100,000 because a bunch of ThinkIrish.ie campaign supporters decide to move to an ice-cream diet! Murphy’s receipts then increase, but that is not the end of the money trail. In order to meet the increased demand, they’ll typically respond by increasing production by using some portion of the €100,000 to buy more inputs in the form of additional goods and services. The additional inputs for new ice cream production will include ingredients like cream, sugar, fruits, and chocolate; cartons and labels for packaging; more electricity and water; more labor; perhaps even new equipment; and so on. Economists might call this the Direct Impact.

But again, this is not the end of the money trail. Each of Murphy’s suppliers will respond in similar fashion. As demand for their products increase, so they too will increase their purchases of all the inputs they require for their production processes. Ultimately, the chain of input purchases will reach far beyond the sectors of the economy that are most obviously linked to ice cream production. Economists call this the Indirect Impact.

And we’ve not stopped yet! All of this activity generates more cash in the economy, incomes start to rise and it’s unlikely that us recession-weary families will stash all our increased income in a piggy-bank (‘tho we probably should!) More likely, we’ll spend some (or all of it) on a whole load of things; a treat for the goods, new shoes, maybe a deposit on that house that’s finally got a realistic price tag! And yes, you guessed it; the Economists have another term for this. It’s called the “Induced effect”.

OK, stay with us now, we’re getting to the sharp end!

Now, all of these (3) effects together generate an increase in the output that is generated in the economy. Those smart economist chaps have developed a number that will predict how many jobs will result from this new output so we can say that for every additional €1 million spent in this way, we can generate a specific amount of new jobs. Importantly, that number changes depending on where the additional €1 million is spent. So for example, if it’s spent on food and drink, we can use a multiplier of 13 (i.e. €1 million extra spent on food and drink would generate 13 new jobs). The number is higher if it gets spent on Irish tourism (23 jobs per extra €1 million) which makes a short break in the West very ThinkIrish.ie indeed! For the purposes of the campaign, we use a multiplier of 15 which represents a mix of spend from the food and drink and other household sectors we imagine our supporters might choose to switch their spend to.

Which brings us neatly back to the question of the 20,000 new jobs! Where does that number come from?

Well, let’s imagine it’s not just extra demand for Murphy’s ice cream (OK, now we’ve got caramal – honeycomb in mind) but the campaign managed to encourage every household in the country (that’s 1.3 million odd) to switch €20 of their weekly spend to lots of different stuff that’s made and grown here. Together we would generate an additional €1.35 billion in economic activity (Domestic Output) per year. Using our “Multiplier” of 15 (i.e. 15 jobs for every additional €1million spend), we get 15 x 1.35 billion or just over 20,000 new jobs.

And that’s how it’s done!

Weather's looking great for the weekend – enjoy it and keep thinking Irish!

3 Weeks in and We're Making Real Progress

The Easter bunny is packing his pouch and searching for a good place to hide the Easter eggs around the house, and for those of us who may not prioritise chocolate at Easter, the long weekend is just a day away.   From our point of view, it couldn’t come quick enough. The last few weeks have been pretty hectic here at ThinkIrish.ie and a bit of R&R wouldn’t go astray. Three weeks in and the campaign is starting to slowly gain real momentum. We’ve just welcomed our 1,400^th supporter, which roughly equates to the creation of 21 new Irish jobs in the Irish economy.  It’s a figure that you can be proud of. 

Remember, 1 new job= 1 new mortgage,  1 less social welfare payment and  a much more comfortable existence for one more Irish family this Easter.

Wouldn’t it be great if every campaign member encouraged just one more friend to join us over the Easter holiday?  If they did, we could eliminate another dole queue just like the one in the picture.

    We’ve had lots of great ideas from campaign members as to how we might improve our Facebook pages, so we’ve listened carefully and will be making changes in the next couple of weeks.  You can expect to see a new Take Action Page, video links and an issues page, so keep an eye out for those.  April is also our competition month.  We’ll be launching a couple of really great competitions giving you lots of chances to win some terrific Irish products.    If you’re an avid competitor keep your eyes peeled to the website and FaceBook page and Twitter for more info.   Alternatively, if you’re a producer and want to get some free publicity for your product drop us a line @ hello@thinkirish.ie  and we’ll run a competition involving your product.

  What most excites us though this month is that our “guerrilla” tagging project is getting underway. This will involve some of our trusted and enthusiastic ThinkIrish.ie campaign volunteers going into various shops and supermarkets and personally tagging all the products that they can find on the shelves that we have in our directory with our special stickers (see opposite), don’t worry we’ll film it for all to see.  We think that this is a bit more fun and engaging than just having them printed on the product in a factory.  It’s also a great excuse to get out of the house/office for an hour or two...... provided that it’s not snowing on the day!  If you’d like to take part in any of our tagging activity, just pop an email to hello@thinkirish.ie                                                                            

 Our YouTube page has also been set up and our first video posted, it’s just a brief introduction to who we are at ThinkIrish and what our motives behind the campaign are.  Have a look at it below. Big thanks to Darragh and Stephanie for shooting, presenting and editing it.  Much appreciated.  Last but not least is our car sticker campaign, which is really gathering pace.  Thanks to Fergal, they’re available door to door in Ranelagh, if you’re one of the lucky ones, in Cork at Unislim classes and in Nash 19 restaurant and food shop, thanks to Shirley and Mary, from Flavours on Patrick Street in Dun Laoghaire and from the builders providers in Tuam, thanks John Paul. If you feel you can help with distribution or just offer us a space on your counter-top to make them available to customers – please email us at hello@thinkirish.ie

  So, that’s us for the week, if you haven’t bought your Easter egg yet, Flake and Time Out are always a good bet or if you want to splash out Lily O’Brien’s is a great treat and Irish too and don’t forget the numerous artisan chocolate producers out there – see the directory on ThinkIrish.ie for more information 

Happy Easter and have a great weekend.

Our Introduction Video