In my opinion since we are already in deficit we should try stimulating the economy instead of depressing it further.  Lower taxes, income tax and lower the national minimum wage so that people wont have to lose their source of income and have to rely on unemployment benefit.  You could raise VAT slightly to offset the lower tax take.

My main point is if they are out of the unemployment line and not dependant on government money to live then we can reduce the burden financially on overly stressed budget.

1. Open source software is cheep or even free so the only cost is implementation

2. Its useful in the base system for GNU/Linux desktops has office software and many other tools for free unlike windows and mac which you have to pay for.

3. Its faster than windows

Now all that being said 1 major selling point of GNU/Linux is that it is a true multitasking OS, you can have hundreds of processes and hundreds of different users logged in at one time. This is very useful because instead of just one user on one computer you can have one server running an entire school for the price of monitors keyboards and mice.  The second reason FOSS software should be used is that for each windows computer you have to pay for a licence even if you don’t know your paying and that is quite the opposite in FOSS. The third reason is that the source code is available so there is unlimited possibilities so you can have your class room internationalised to the language of the students breaking down that barrier. Ubuntu in particular is translated into Irish which could be  used as a way to keep Irish relevant.

So Free, useful, fast, cost efficient hardware wise,  no licence per computer and the unlimited possibilities is why the Irish government should choose Open source software.

The health service and the education system is the simple answer but in Europe in general that has always been true. Its not that simple though its not the social services in general its more the waste in the HSE, in the running of these services and in failed systems (an example is PPARS). Also quangos(Think tanks , tribunals..etc.) cost a lot of money to run. Now the main thing draining the country’s finances is the dole. With unemployment so high (and only getting higher) it costs the country a lot of money and takes away from other more important services. The simple fact is that we should have like a three month max for people on the dole. Also we need to make sure the money being given out is to people who deserve it. People who want to work and cant get a job. Not lazy sods or people who have a job and collect the dole.

The main thing is that now the people who are suffering are the 5-30 year olds. The people in the over crowded education system or people trying get on the job ladder.

The Fine Fail lead government also cut the medical cards for older people which is harming the people who need the medical system most.

Yes we are in economic trouble but targeting the students and old people will haunt Fine Fail for years to come. The cracks are starting to show and the governments mistakes when we had the money are costing us now. I applaud the protesting and I hope to get up to Dublin to join in when I can.

Now is the time for Fine Gael to show their strength and take advantage of this opportunity.