John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Politics is a much maligned profession. It is the thing to do to knock the body yet there is not a politician in Leinster House who does not get up to half a dozen, and more, telephone calls to their offices from the same people every week or month. These people rarely have a query but they will manufacture one purely just to engage with someone. When house calls were permitted, a politician might often have been the only person to have called, reached out to or dropped a note to a particular household. We have a role to play there. We are familiar with that territory. I say that because our voice tends to get lost in this regard for some reason these days. The public have an awful lot of time on a one-to-one basis and they have positive things to say about their politicians but there is a general view that we do not bring any positivity to the table. As I said, we, and our staff, are familiar with that space of the common callers who, probably, do not have other people to reach out to. We are very happy to take those calls and to give time to them.

On the social media piece, as we know, in the past 24 hours Twitter had a field day. As everybody moved to Twitter a number of funny things happened. My question as to the reason the Samaritans is here today was rhetorical but slightly provocative. I am glad the witnesses are here. They are welcome to avail of the opportunity to do so once a year but they should not be afraid to reach out directly to individual politicians when it comes to the need for funding. Either they do or do not need funding. They should not hide their light under a bushel. What I have learned in politics, which I do not like, is that those who shout loudest are often the ones who are heard. Those who do the work quietly and diligently are easy to overlook because they do not create a fuss. I am not saying that the Samaritans should become an organisation that creates fuss, but it can create little fusses. It can create 160 fusses with individual Deputies in different constituencies. It can also create them with Senators. It does not have to be a big drama.

The contribution today was very good. It woke me up to the Samaritans, the role it plays and the work it did during Covid. The longevity of the organisation is testimony to its efficacy, because most organisations do not last that long. There are others who shout loud. There is something admirable about an organisation that goes about its work quietly, but in a world that is full of noise, it is important to make sure it is heard. We are here to help. The witnesses have been heard today.