Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to mention one issue which occurred to me last night when I passed the Central Bank and saw the enormous number of families queueing up for soup kitchens. We are so lucky to have the volunteers that do this work in Dublin, Cork and other cities. It was so sad to see. I counted more than 70 people. The thing that was really hard to comprehend was the presence in the queue of nine young children. I spoke to a man who said he felt ashamed to be there because he had had a job.He told me he rents a flat in Glasnevin and that he keeps his hood up because he does not want people to see him. At least we have such a service, however, and people who give out things like soup and bread on a Monday night. I also refer to projects such as that undertaken by the barbers who go onto the streets to cut people's hair and by people like Alice Leahy who give out clothes. It is all about dignity. It was not too long ago that many of us, if we were being honest, did not have the arse pocket in our trousers either. That is the reality.

Moving on to my second point, I have a sister who works with the Irish in London. Anyone familiar with Trafalgar Square will know the lovely church that is St. Martin-in-the-Fields, right there in the square. An amazing organisation for the Irish is run from that church, and there are facilities for baths and for washing. Those facilities are for all sorts of people but a high percentage of them are Irish. I have had great opportunities over many years to link in with those services. Any time I am in London, I go to St. Martin-in-the-Fields. It is quite a spiritual home for me and it is an amazing church, an amazing congregation and an amazing community of diverse people. Many of them have a simple Christian approach and have no religion at all, which is great. It is, therefore, an amazing building with an amazing community.

Again, however, people there this week are wrapping up parcels. They are struggling and they are our Irish people. In fairness to the past actions of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, it is important that people in Ireland, and particularly the Government, send finance and support to those people in London. Those people providing the services to which I have referred are holding raffles with bottles of wine and drawing tickets for 50p to raise money for our Irish people.

While we talk about our diaspora, many people went, or ran away, to London because they had issues with which they could not cope themselves. They were not accepted, fell on hard times or felt that they had to run away from something. They stayed in London and feel that they cannot come back. In many ways, Ireland is a different place now. We should all use our contacts and tap into our political groupings, parties, Ministers and anyone we know to see if we can support those who are supporting the Irish on the streets of London.