All the indications of wealth - new buildings and a skyline dotted with high-rise cranes - were challenged by stories of poverty in Dublin's north inner city, the Archbishop of Dublin said yesterday.
Dr Desmond Connell was presenting the annual report for 1997 of Crosscare, the social care agency of the Dublin archdiocese.
He highlighted specific categories of people excluded from the benefits of economic progress, including those who still relied on food centres for a daily meal; inner-city communities fighting against drugs; young people homeless on the street; carers who dedicated their lives to others and early school-leavers for whom the points race was irrelevant.
The Crosscare director, Father Martin Noone, urged the Government to ignore the "self-serving warnings of those who see in the claims of the excluded a threat to the responsible management of public finances". Such calamity warnings were a "mask for self-interest and greed", he said.
Crosscare has also made a pre-Budget submission in which it draws attention to the widespread problem of poverty in Ireland.
Among other items, the agency calls for an increase in the carers' allowance and a higher income threshold; an increase in the back-to-school grants to £100 for primary schoolchildren and £150 for secondary; a return of the Christmas bonuses to 100 per cent from 75 per cent; a maternity grant rise from £8 to £100; an overdue increase in fuel allowances and a campaign to promote the Family Income Supplement which carries a stigma.
Father Noone said: "It is not right, it is not just, it is not good that there are still people in our society who lack the basic necessities, who struggle to make ends meet. It is not right that a mother of five should have to live on a very low income. It is not right that any children in our society should be homeless. It is not right that the old should feel neglected or uncared for."
The report says carers are showing signs of being overwhelmed by the constant pressure and restrictions of their situation, by the physical and psychological demands on them and by feelings of isolation and helplessness.
On community education, it states that Crosscare workers are becoming aware of the depth of emotional and spiritual poverty in people's lives. Its Food Bank received enough food during 1997 to make almost one million meals.
Crosscare has a budget of more than £2 million through which it provides a comprehensive service to battle the marginalisation and social exclusion still prevalent in Dublin. The annual collection takes place at Masses throughout the Dublin archdiocese this weekend.