Cardinal encourages people to help each other

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady is calling on people to give each other an extraordinary helping hand this Christmas.

In his Christmas message, the Cardinal said 2010 has been a very difficult year and many families are under pressure with people losing their jobs.

Smaller incomes and enormous debt looms over the country and the cold weather is adding to the challenges of families facing increased heating bills.

Cardinal Brady said the difficulities which lie ahead will be challenging but solutions will be found with time and effort and through people helping each other in the process.

He said the challenge we now face is to bring encouragement to one another to help us get through these difficult times.