Let 2012 be the year of ‘is féidir linn’

As the New Year dawns tomorrow, the Irish people are hanging on desperately to promises of better times ahead.

Let 2012 be a peaceful and prosperous year for us all. With the country facing an appalling vista of possible insolvency and collapse of the euro, this is an apt time to recall US President Barack Obama’s visit to Ireland. It is a fitting time to emulate his irrepressible air of confidence and the can-do attitude embodied in his Irish mantra — “is féidir linn”.

It is an outrage that families dubbed the “working poor” are forced to wait over four months for the Family Income Supplement to top up their meagre incomes. This smacks of a cynical ploy by Government to stall payments to those most in need of financial aid.

The situation is so serious that a human backlog of 13,000 families are struggling to make ends meet, desperately waiting for money to which they are entitled under the scheme. That is a disgrace.

Given the parlous state of the economy, the Government should have anticipated long before now the need for extra staff to tackle this crisis. People who opt for work instead of social welfare should be applauded rather than deprived. The extra money could mean the difference between putting bread on the table or going hungry, between self-sufficiency and abject poverty.