Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I will call Deputy McGrath again.

In common with my colleagues present and other Members going about their work, I meet people at clinics while dealing with constituents with medical issues, housing issues or payments they require. In recent years, as politicians, we have seen a period in people's lives that politicians representing people previously would never have seen. For example, on leaving a clinic one day, I rang my late father as I had a question for him. I was leaving a clinic in a certain town he had held for years before me. I asked him did he ever have anybody at a clinic who became so upset that they were crying hysterically. He answered me honestly by saying he had not. I told him that on that day, out of 15 people I had had four such people. The reason they were crying was not that they were making something up. It was because they were so troubled and so upset and there was financial hardship in each of those cases on that day. I will never forget it. On that day - we have a way of saying it at home - it would have been easy to make a shirt for me after it. In other words, one would be a very small person when one left somebody who had come to tell one their issue or story and who had become so upset. That is reflective of what people have gone through.

That is why I appreciate so much every word that both Mr. Ginnell and Dr. Healy have said today. It is nice to hear them say it because it is an acknowledgement of the situation on the ground. While we all know the economy is coming back and work is becoming more plentiful, the other day a person said to me, "God, Mike, 'tis great, the boom is back". To be honest, I was not too pleased with the person who said it and I let the person know what I thought of it. I thought if only that person knew. We have people living in houses who those on the outside driving by might think are doing fine. If one went into that house, however, and asked them to give one a €10 note or a €20 note, they could not do so. Some people do not appreciate it, but I definitely know my colleagues here do because they meet it with constituents. It is horrific what is going on today, in that people are in that situation and many do not realise it. Thanks be to God, the latter are fortunate. Life is going well for them and I am delighted with that. That is great. However, if one does not have a social conscience, one must remember to think of the people who are less well off and the hidden poverty in Ireland today. When I say, "hidden poverty", and I was delighted to hear it mentioned, it can be a person who has a job and who has an income. Such people might have children going to college but literally do not have money, as they lack disposable income because they are in deficit every week. It is a constant trip-up with borrowings between credit unions and the banks. Such people might have one or two considerably good salaries going into the house but they literally do not have money. That is a new development in Ireland today that I presume would not have been the case before my time in politics.

I started out buying diggers and other machinery in the 1980s, when times were hungry and tight and there was no spare cash around the place. I know what it is to run on a tight budget and just to survive but there is real hardship today. When I am here in Dublin and I see over 100 cranes in the sky, I am delighted as that is great. However, one should not forget the people we are there to represent. It is our job. We are paid to do that.

It is important for these organisations to be here today, to have this discussion and to put on record the existence of what I would call a forgotten Ireland. It should not be forgotten, however, as there is a level of poverty that many people might not see or realise. One cannot deal with an issue or a problem unless one talks about it in an open, honest and transparent way. One must not try to brush anything under the carpet or try to let on that we are in a type of an economic situation we are not. In other words, we must not try to let on that everything is great and rosy in the garden because it is not.

I apologise, as I merely wanted to share with Mr. Ginnell and Dr. Healy my thoughts and views on the importance of what they are doing here today. I will leave it to them both in their own time. I apologise, I call Deputy Mattie McGrath.