Changing Ireland - Our hopes must match our reality

THE next few weeks will be challenging for anyone growing uneasy with the over-commercialisation of Christmas.

Even families still enjoying good incomes will feel the strain as the celebration becomes more and more concerned with materialism and acquisition each and every year.

And, as the economy struggles, the Society of St Vincent de Paul warned us yesterday that many, many more families are feeling the strain and have been forced to turn to the charity for help. For families who could not so long ago cope the festival will no longer be a celebration to enjoy. Rather it will be a struggle to meet ridiculous expectations established in better times.

SVP, which has been helping people since 1884, has reported that there has been an increase of up to 40% of the number of people seeking its help. In Dublin calls for help rose by 55% compared with September last year. In Cork the increase is running at 36%.

How quickly and absolutely things change when things start going wrong.

In a time when we are confronted by dramatic and worrying figures almost by the hour these percentages do not fully relate the dramatic change in circumstances faced by many of our friends and neighbours.

Try to imagine the change in your own life that might force you to seek help from the most active voluntary social support service in Ireland. Might you be one of the hundreds of thousands of Irish people saddled with record personal debt?

Might you be one of the people in the High Court in Dublin facing repossession orders and the prospect of losing your home?

Might you be one of the people living in the southeast of the country where there has been surge in repossessions and a consequent jump in homelessness?

Might you be a member of one of the families depending on the society’s €1 million a week to make ends meet? Might you be one of the almost 115,000 — doubled in a year — people out of work?

What ever the unfortunate circumstances it is likely that you never imagined that you would have to confront such a reality and that you wold have explored virtually every option before taking this step.

These are indeed worrying times and, as the SVP warns us, are likely to become more so. Already this week we have been warned about the vulnerability of pension funds and the prospect of private sector workers left with greatly diminished retirement incomes.

Every day now reality seems to do all it can to make it difficult to remain optimistic and the excessive demands of Christmas will only add to that worry for many people.

There are some things individuals can do. We can accept expectations that match our ability to pay for them. Otherwise we will only get deeper in debt for little or no return. Those of us who can afford it, and that is still the vast majority or people on this island, should do what we can to support organisations like the Society of St Vincent de Paul and, through them, our less fortunate neighbours.