Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I know that Government Deputies would rather there were no Opposition Members in this House but there is an Opposition. We may be small in number but we will make our voices heard, increasingly so from now on. We will call it as we see it but we will never portray this country in a light that is unfair or that will undermine the efforts to improve life for our people. This is a great country going through an extraordinarily difficult period in its economic history but come through it, I have no doubt, we will. The Irish people have endured a great deal over the past three years. Successive budgets have forced more and more sacrifice on them and many people are struggling to get by on a day-to-day basis. People are worried about providing for their children today and what the future will bring those children tomorrow. High levels of unemployment and forced emigration have re-emerged as an unwelcome feature in every community across the country. Many families will spend this Christmas without loved ones, with young Irish men and women working as far away as Australia, the US and Canada. Their absence and their aspiration for a future here must be given expression in this House today.

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