A presidential election, if it went ahead, could be used to highlight fundamental questions about the vision for Ireland in the future, particularly with regard to the socially marginalised, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, said yesterday.
Dr Martin announced the annual appeal for Crosscare, which supports disadvantaged groups such as the homeless, full-time carers, early school leavers and the elderly, mainly in the greater Dublin area.
It provides support through its food centres, night shelters, training workshop, hostel for boys, and many programmes on such subjects as teen counselling, clothing, community education, drugs awareness, emigrant advice and inclusion of Travellers and the disabled in the parish.
Announcing the appeal in all parishes of the Dublin Diocese next weekend, September 25th and 26th, Dr Martin said Ireland had never been as wealthy as it was now but social divisions had not gone away and in many areas they had increased.
He said there would be much political reflection in Ireland in the coming months and years. He challenged politicians, trade unions, employers organisations and economic thinkers to indicate how concretely the growth-equality divide could be overcome.
Speaking afterwards to The Irish Times, Dr Martin said: "If it [a presidential election] takes place it can be used in a way to highlight some of the fundamental questions about the type of vision of Ireland we want for the future."
Although the role of the President was not to get involved in politics, the President could set a framework for the overall politics of the type of Ireland for the future. Presidents in recent years had actually been very good at that, he said.
Dr Martin said he strongly believed that Ireland was in the front line and occupied first place in many economic indicators, but it had to be ensured that social indicators were there as well. "We've never had as much money to do it and we may not have it in the future so let's build those foundations today," he said.
At the St Laurence O'Toole Day Centre in Dublin's Docklands, Dr Martin said Crosscare supported people who rarely made the news. It worked day and night to share the simple "good things" like food, shelter and friendship.
Their focus was different from that of most people whose concerns ranged from where to holiday next year, to mortgages, the future of children, schools, health, about getting on in years.
"If you are a full-time carer or locked in poverty or homeless you are very different. Your focus is on basic survival and your powerlessness to escape your situation," he said.
During the past year the agency provided over 100,000 meals for the needy, redistributed 570 tonnes of food through its food bank and provided 15,000 bed-nights for the homeless.