Some of you may be reading this blog at work with an ever-so-slightly throbbing head. Perhaps you’re still at home, joining the estimated fifth of the British population who have fallen foul to the annual alcoholic virus.

Or maybe you’re an Irish government minister, reading from one of the 23 selected countries around the world chosen by Ireland to form a community of ideas to reinvigorate their ailing economy.

Good Day to you all, and happy post-St Patrick’s Day.

While Taoiseach Brian Cowen enjoyed a visit to see President Barack Obama at the White House yesterday, his fellow ministers have scattered across the world for working visits to discuss promotion of trade, investment and tourism. The Irish government also persuaded a number of the world’s most iconic landmarks to turn green for the day, including the Sydney Opera House, the Empire State Building and the London Eye.

A cynic might suggest that the Irish ministers have used the celebration of St Patrick’s snake charming skills as a glorified holiday. At the very least, what appears to be a fine piece of global PR on behalf of the Irish government might be a little insensitive towards their citizens who have stayed at home to work in the midst of the financial crisis.

The intention of the Irish government, however, may have a greater purpose than to simply have a good craic during their self-imposed 17-day human Crowdsourcing expedition. The Crowdsourcing model has already formed a part of the country’s recent strategies for finding fresh inspiration, as highlighted by the ‘Your Country, Your Call’ campaign:

“The goal is to pick two truly transformational proposals so big that, when implemented, could secure prosperity and jobs for Ireland. Proposals that could help change the way we do things, allow businesses to grow, employment to be created and prosperity to flourish.”

A quick scan of the latest proposals suggests almost anything goes in Ireland’s agenda-setting X-Factor competition. Europe’s largest theme park? St Patrick’s Day Bank Holiday weekend? A policy to support small local industries? Walkways and Cycle-paths running throughout the entire country? The best two proposals (at least in the opinion of the Irish government) will be passed, and the two individuals responsible for them will each receive a 100,000 Euro prize.

This follows the independent ‘Ideas Campaign’ that resulted in the Irish government pledging to implement 17 of the 44 proposals made by Irish citizens in areas such as active citizenship, the knowledge economy, tourism and government finances. The 17 proposals were formally approved in July last year.

Unlike, ‘Your Country, Your Call’, the ‘Ideas Campaign’s’ purpose was not solely intended for the Irish government, but also for business and voluntary organisations.

Further examples, as outlined on the Servitize blog, include: 

“The Global Economic Forum that the Irish government held in Dublin in September 2009 and the Innovation Taskforce that the government established to provide direction into building a smart economy in Ireland, whose report was issued this week. Both were cases where individuals from many different sectors of the Irish community were brought together to discuss Ireland’s future.”

There does appear to be genuine consistency with the Irish government’s desire to source global opinions together, and they have made commendable efforts domestically to try and avoid restricting all the ideas from emanating from within the inner circle of the cabinet.

Admittedly, the policy changes are unlikely to be revolutionary and Ireland are probably not going to adopt direct-democracy any time soon either. What the Irish government has shown, however, is a willingness to open dialogue with their own citizens to find innovative proposals to combat their financial mess.

If you have any good ideas, ‘Your Country, Your Call’ will continue to accept suggestions for the next 43 days. I think I may have thought of one: free paracetamol for all on post-St Patrick’s Day.