A startling rise in the number of applications to Protestant Aid for emergency grants is the clearest indicator of just how serious the present economic situation is for the average man in the street.

Hardly a day goes by but we hear about the financial hardships experienced by people at all levels of society, with job losses, business closures, growing emigration to greener pastures, the threat of pay cuts and tax increases feeling of despair that the end is not really in sight.

Allied to the very high unemployment figures, the budgets have impacted severely on people’s net earnings and with further cuts being inevitable, it will result in even more reductions in peoples’ take-home pay.

It is expected that Ireland’s recovery will be slower than most of its EU partners and pressures on charities like Protestant Aid are expected to remain (and indeed increase) in the years ahead.