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OVER 90,000 calls were made to the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) last year from people requesting help with food.
Overall, the charity received over a quarter of a million calls for help to its regional offices and local conferences throughout the country in 2022.
Energy and utility bills was another area of need for people, with almost 20,000 calls relating to such received by the charity.
Another 33,000 calls were made by people struggling with both food and energy costs.
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The SVP charity said calls increased at specific times of the year with just over 34,000 calls from families who needed help at Christmas.
Back to school costs, third level costs, household goods, furniture, clothing, support with health related costs, issues with mortgages and rent or funeral expenses made up the majority of the remaining 77,000 calls.
In the region of 30,000 people sought SVP help for the first time in 2023.
“Only a portion of people living in poverty and deprivation approach SVP for help and we know how hard it is to make that first call. But our support is here in a confidential and non-judgemental way and the only criteria for help is need,” SVP national president Rose McGowan said.
“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,” McGowan said.
“Despite the additional cost-of-living support payments made by the Government, there are many people who continue to struggle to meet basic family expenses. Our main concern at the moment is the number of households in arrears on their gas bills or those who cannot afford an oil fill. With another cold snap on the way, we are worried this situation will get worse as people try to manage debt and current usage costs.”
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@Kevin O Brien: It will be interesting to see to see what SF/IRA will bring to the table if they are in government after the next elections. A border poll would be a safe bet to divert attention from their mismanagement of the economy.
@Vincent Alexander: They should shelf all talk and activity on united Ireland until after the get control of the current FF/FG managed crises. They need to focus on undoing the damage before it’s too late.
@Vincent Alexander: what a Muppet…having a go at a party not yet in power instead of having a go at the current clowns in government…you Sir are next level ignorant!
@David Corrigan: Speaking to SF people on the ground, they are worried about the whole immigration issue & comments by senior SF people on the issue & also what would happen if they fail on the main issues like Fine Gael & Fianna Fail. The silent majority are bubbling with anger at the moment, things will need to change fast. FFG concentrated on side issues & neglected the real issues.
@damien leen: SF’s track record in the North or any council where they hold the balance of power is enough to predict what they will be like in government. Instead of looking to fly the Palestinian flag over Dublin council buildings they will look to fly it over Leinster House.
I work in a retail shop near Moore street. Roma gypsies shop frequently in this shop. The only way I see them pay is via vouchers, which they gouge from charities like this by gaming the system with their 5+ kids each pretending to be poor. The vinnos pay out in these vouchers. Our welfare game and charities are being played by these chancers and we’re losing. They’re entitled to the full suite of welfare benefits because they’re EU citizens (usually Romanian or Hungarian, yes I know Roma is separate from Romanian before anybody tries to say I think otherwise)
@Sean Murphy: To be honest the ‘normal’ Romanians and other Eastern Europeans are high on the list of people complaining about the bad reputation they are giving them. They think the Irish are mad for putting up with them !!
I remember reading a comment about St Vincent de Paul on the journal in the last couple of months. A man who worked with them commented that when he went and did house visits, some of the houses that he went to had the best televisions on the walls, every child having a tablet and the best lashes and lips on show.
Your level of income is not the problem if that’s the case it’s your budgeting skills you’re not prioritizing what’s important.
@Fiona Wyse: Are you Joan Burton?
She didn’t like ‘poor’ people owning mobile phones because they they uploaded videos of people protesting against water charges.
So wait, let me get this straight, our right wing government abdicating all responsibility for the poor, and instead funnelling tax money to private, unregulated charities, who have zero meaningful oversight, hasn’t solved poverty?
Wild.
This vast desperation should come as no surprise.
We have 75k homeless (source: Guardian) and sold 2/3rds of our social housing to private owners. We have 14x more homes on Airbnb than available for rent. We have some of the highest rents and highest food prices in the EU.
And guess what, the far right will show up here in droves and say the only solution is less government. Less taxes for the rich. And less regulation on property owners.
@Chris O’Brien: are you saying St Vincent De Paul is unregulated if that’s what you’re saying I highly advise you do your homework. I’m with SVP I can tell you in my area we file accounts. Our funding comes from good people who donate to the charity and we distribute funds mostly shopping vouchers to people in need. Some charities may be unregulated but you’ll find most are regulated and audited
@Nemethon: how often does someone representing government visit you to make sure the accounts you file are accurate? What government agency audits you, supervises how you distribute your donations to make sure what you claim is accurate, etc.?
What you’ve said in no way refutes what I said, btw.
What laws govern your behaviour specifically, and how familiar are you with them personally? Who oversees you from government to ensure you behave within the explicit laws that govern you? Etc.
In fact you operate under VERY light touch regulation, compared to what you’d operate under if you were in a government agency.
So for example SVP is regulated by the Charities Regulation Act. It’s main requirement is an annual submission of financial records.
On the other hand government agencies are under much more – public – oversight
Also worth noting that SVP pays its head 110k a year and has 155M in reserves.
That’s someone earning far more than an average government employee warns, sitting on 2x the amount it donated to the homeless, etc.
And while an audit might show that all those numbers are accurate, what it doesn’t do is given voters an control. Even political control. You can’t vote out the head of SVP despite his salary being paid by taxpayers. You ain’t see him scrutinised in the Dail either.
Ever wonder how a woman could feed a family of 8 people three meals a day back in the 70s when microwave ovens and ready meals didn’t exist and a shopping trolley was full of junk food.
@Jack Moss: Usually because the woman herself did not sit down to dine with her family, she ate the leftovers if there were any and lived on cups of tea.
@Frank Cauldhame: It’s gas,when it doesn’t suit people narrative to make comparisons to 50 years ago they rubbish things but then they will say ‘In the 60/70’s we built loads of council houses,why can’t we do that again’
@David Corrigan: Again,people love to whitewash the past and say ‘move on’…when it suits them but then go on about 100 years of fffg.And we all know that that lot have not gone away.That also is only one small part of people’s problems with that lot….It’s more the damage they would do to the economy(and international relations)if they got in.Finally,for someone who doesn’t support that crowd,you do an awful lot of heavy lifting for them.
“Back to school costs, third level costs, household goods, furniture, clothing, support with health related costs, issues with mortgages and rent or funeral expenses”
The reason for this lies solely with government policy’s,Blaming the less well off it’s just what the government wants one to do. The sitting government has caused this divide between Have and Have nots. They are forcing more and more poor people into this country, they have forced up house prices by allowing vulture funds buy up large amounts of properties. The buck lies at the top and government are happy all day if we all blame each other…… this left / right dribble from the sitting government is just smoke and mirrors.
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