Ireland has been stretched to the limit by homelessness, housing and health according to Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath
The leader of the Rural Independent Group of TD says say there’s a huge contrast between our nation’s wealth and the harsh reality faced by tens of thousands of Irish citizens – and the 4,000 children who are homeless in the run up to Christmas.
Mattie McGrath says despite record-breaking tax revenues of €82 billion last month it seems like the Government just doesn’t care.
“Heading into Christmas week, 3,000 people queuing outside the Capuchin Order for food parcels. It really says a lot about our modern day Ireland when at the same time the Cabinet and Government are boasting about the bumper tax receipts that they’ve taken in in November and right throughout the year, budget surpluses, everything else.”
Deputy McGrath says thousands of people in Ireland are facing the cold, callous reality of living in poverty.
He says despite record-breaking tax revenues, the country’s being stretched to the limit when it comes to services.
“Its all the time crisis management – all the emergency services are stretched to the limit. All our Gardaí now are being sucked up to Dublin to deal with the situation there and we’ve been denuded of them at home. A&E’s like Limerick – which is my area – its shocking the numbers on trolleys and the waiting list for patients, for people, to get procedures. It’s a harsh cruel world when you’re depending on charities.”
