For the many who live life on the margins, the glitter and glamour of Christmas often has only one effect: to highlight their exclusion from a society that in many ways has never appeared more affluent.
It is fashionable at this time of year to remember the poor, the underprivileged and the dispossessed. It's also become a cliche to say that while the Celtic Tiger purrs for some, it whimpers for others.
It may even be unpalatable to the "haves" doing well in a bustling economy to have listen to what the "have-nots" are complaining about.
Yet very often the poor are voiceless and need organisations like the Simon Community to speak up for them - sometimes just to extend a helping and unquestioning hand.
This Christmas the Simon Community in Cork is preparing to give comfort to the growing number of people sleeping rough around the city. As usual, the soup run will go out on Christmas night bringing hot food and blankets to the nooks and crannies inhabited by the homeless.
On Christmas Day about 120 people will enjoy a lunch in the warmth of the Simon shelter.
This is the time of year when homelessness is noticed more and people give a little extra to organisations such as Simon. But the homeless will still be there in January and February.
Patricia McAlister, Simon's director in Cork, says the number of homeless people in touch with the community has risen by 20 per cent since 1997. In the first six months of this year alone, more than 450 people made contact with Cork Simon.
The disturbing evidence, she adds, is that there are more young people, more women, and more people in need of psychiatric care now sleeping rough.
Still, it is not all doom and gloom. The Homeless Forum, representing Cork Corporation, the Southern Health Board (SHB) and voluntary groups including Simon, St Vincent de Paul and the Good Shepherds, have received funding from the local authorities to conduct extensive research into all aspects of homelessness in the city.
The research will be carried out in the new year by UCC, which will also make recommendations on ways in which homelessness might be tackled or reversed. In addition, Simon in Cork has made a submission to the health board calling for the provision of a general practitioner service in the city, specific to the needs of the homeless.
There are good reasons for this, Ms McAlister says: "Many homeless people are not accessing any form of medical care such as GPs, chiropodists or dentists. Those with mental health problems cannot access psychiatric care without a GP referral."
The board has decided in principle to accept the submission, and Simon is optimistic that progress will be made in the area sooner rather than later. The community has made a further submission to the board seeking the inclusion of older homeless people in the SHB's 10-year plan - "A Strategy for the Improved Health and Quality of Life of Older Persons in Cork and Kerry".
Simon has also just launched The Cork Cook Book containing recipes from the many fine restaurants to be found in and around Cork these days.
It seems contradictory that a voluntary organisation helping those who can barely sustain themselves should produce exquisite meal ideas from the likes of Ballymaloe House, Adele's in Schull, Fleming's, Liss Ard Lake Lodge, Lettercollum House, Issacs and many others.
But it was an inspired move, all about generating money to fund a programme aimed at assisting the homeless to find accommodation of their own and offering support and training when they do so. The homeless of Cork are unlikely ever to dine in the restaurants which have come to the aid of their cause - but that's not the point.
Already the book has sold about 4,000 copies and a further 3,000 have been ordered by Easons, whose Patrick Street branch has been posting it as the number one bestseller over the past few weeks.
The book makes an ideal Christmas present and the proceeds will help the 120 voluntary workers who give their time to the Simon Community in an effort to make even greater inroads into a problem that so belies the prosperity we now celebrate.
Simon's annual budget is £300,000 and the funds available are never sufficient.