SVP reports a 10% hike in calls for help
MORE than a quarter of a million calls for help were received by the Society of St Vincent de Paul last year.
This is a 10% increase on the contacts in 2022.
And just over a third of the callers were requesting help with food.
Close to 30,000 people who sought help from SVP last year were doing so for the first time.
Some 20,000 calls related to those seeking help with energy and utility bills, while another 33,000 were from people struggling with both food and energy costs.
The number of contacts peaked in the run up to Christmas.
The majority of the remaining 77,000 calls related to costs around back to school, third-level education, household goods, furniture, clothing, support with health-related expenses, issues with mortgages and rent or funeral expenses.
SCHOOL
However, the charity said calls for help with back to school expenses fell last year due to the free school books scheme and an increase in the allowance.
SVP national president Rose Mcgowan said: “We know how hard it is to make that first call. But our support is here in a confidential and non-judgmental way and the only criteria for help is need.
“It is important to recognise that behind each of these statistics is a person or a family trying to tread water in a sea of rising living costs.
“The mental toll on people of ongoing financial difficulties, poverty and lack of certainty about the future is to the forefront of our work in communities.”
Dr Tricia Keilthy, SVP head of social justice, added: “Low pay, lack of income support, rising housing costs and homelessness, unaffordable childcare and lack of transport are just some of the challenges we are facing.”
SVP called on the Government to commit to reduce consistent poverty to 2% or less by 2025. The rate stood at 5.3% in 2022.