Cork Vincent de Paul saw 20% rise in calls before Christmas

There were 20% more calls to the Cork Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) seeking help with bills this Christmas than in 2024.

This rise is above the national average, and more than half of the calls were seeking help with food costs. Nationally, SVP recorded a rise of 12% in calls since Christmas 2024.

Overall, Cork’s SVP team had more than 3,000 requests for assistance last month, a 20% rise from December 2024.

Cormac O’Sullivan, SVP’s south-west regional co-ordinator, told The Echo: “In Cork alone, we received more than 3,000 calls into the regional office, and that’s not including members who got calls directly, so, in reality, the figure is a lot higher.”

Nationally, SVP had 260,799 requests for assistance in 2025. This is the first time the figure has risen above 260,000, and is a 6% increase on 2024. There was a sharp rise in demand in the lead-up to Christmas, 12% higher than in 2024.

“We’re seeing people contact us who never would have before,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

He added that some of those now seeking help were people who would have donated before, and some of them are double-income families.

“People are really being stretched by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis — prices aren’t going down, and so they have to reach out for help.”

Food-related requests were the largest category, making up more than 50% of the total in SVP Cork, followed by fuel and energy supports, as Budget 2026 saw the universal energy credits of the last few years discontinued.

Mr O’Sullivan said: “We have a very good social justice team in Cork who make appeals to the Government based on the reality they’re seeing on the ground, and the reality is that without those energy supports, the number of people phoning in to us is only getting greater.”

This demand for their services means they need more volunteers, he said.

“We launched a national recruitment campaign this week in the hope of getting people to volunteer their time — it can be a couple of hours a week, any kind of assistance helps.”

There are almost 11,000 volunteers in the South-West, covering Cork and Kerry, spread out across more than 110 hubs in every community, Mr O’Sullivan said, thanking people for their support over Christmas.

“It’s a vital time for us, from a fundraising point of view, but our work continues throughout the year and depends on people’s generosity. The Cork public are very good for fundraising and contributing to our efforts, so for those who can, we would ask them to go one step further and give their time.”

Louise Bayliss, SVP head of social policy, said: “For many people on bill-pay, the first real winter bills are only now landing, and the worry is that the full impact of higher energy costs will hit as the winter progresses.

“Figures show that over 300,000 households are in arrears on their electricity bills, and more than 180,000 are behind on gas.

“In recent years, energy credits provided vital relief. Without them, many households are now struggling to cope.”

The most recent survey on income and living conditions (SILC) figures showed that consistent poverty has increased from 3.6% in 2024 to 5% in 2025, with child consistent poverty rising from 4.8% to 8.5% in just one year — an additional 45,000 children.

“These are not abstract numbers. They are children going to school hungry, living in cold homes, and missing out on the basics that support a healthy childhood,” she said.

Last year, SVP received 33,224 requests for energy assistance across Ireland, with November 2025 seeing SVP’s highest-ever number of energy requests in a single month.