Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

At this stage even the Christians do not believe we should have confidence in the Government. I am not a Christian - I am agnostic - but I understand Fine Gael is meant to be a Christian democratic party. I received a letter from a priest today. It includes a sermon in which reference is made to the "wilderness" carers have been in since the last budget. The priest asked me to represent their cause in any way I could. The sermon states:

A Voice Cries in the Wilderness. Second Sunday of Advent.


There are many forms of wilderness. There is the personal and also the communal:


The wilderness of doubt, uncertainty, fear, breakdown, break-up, sickness, illness, unemployment, recession, debt, bereavement, enforced emigration ... the list is endless. The Church also has experienced a wilderness over the past number of years.


It could be said that Europe is in a financial wilderness ... and that Ireland is also swamped by this wilderness and the debt crisis that overshadows us all as a nation.


The Budget last Wednesday has generated a lot of comment. We all are aware of the challenging task that the Government has in reducing the spiralling national debt. We are also aware of the solemn pre-election promises that they made NOT to remove any grant or respite allowance that carers relied on.

One has to ask was this a promise made to dupe carers for a cynical grab for power?

I want to link the Advent theme of spiritual wilderness with various conversations I had on my First Friday Communion Calls - where I met people in long-term care and their carers who feel let down, dismissed and betrayed by the cut in the respite care grant.


Anyone who is sick or ill is vulnerable. They require the very best of care - not as a handout - but by right. The respite grant enabled both the cared for and the carer to literally have some respite from the constant demands that a carer's job entails. […]


This cut is unfair, unjust and unpatriotic.

This letter is from a Christian, which the Members opposite claim to be. They do not sound very Christian any more, do they?

See this speech in context