Ireland's prime minister, Enda Kenny, makes the first televised address to the nation in a quarter of a century, saying many of its citizens' financial situations would get worse before they got better.
10:16AM GMT 05 Dec 2011
Speaking ahead of the Irish government's first budget, Mr Kenny warned it would be the harshest of its five-year term and admitted that no one inIreland would be left unaffected by the austerity drive.
"I wish I could tell you that the budget won't impact on every citizen in need. But I can't," he said.
"I know this is an exceptional event but we live in exceptional times and we face an exceptional challenge."
The speech was made under 2009 legislation that allows the prime minister to address the nation on television in the event of a major emergency. The last time this happened was in 1986.
Mr Kenny was swept to power with a record majority in February on a wave of voter anger over the country's economic collapse and the harsh rescue terms laid down by its European partners.
His predecessor Brian Cowen was widely criticised for not addressing the nation on the financial crisis that led the state to take on tens of billions of euros of debt from private banks and eventually to a EU-IMF bail-out.
Since its election in February, the government has broadly maintained its support, with an opinion poll on Sunday giving Mr Kenny's centre-right Fine Gael party 32 per cent, down from 36 per cent in the election.
