Samaritans expect an increase in Christmas calls
The Dublin Samaritans expect an increase in the number of people using their service this Christmas by at least 50%.
An average of 190 calls per day were received by people suffering from depression during the Christmas period last year.
Today is the Samaritans' biggest street fundraising event, which is taking place on O'Connell Street in Dublin.
Director Brendan Gallagher said the increase in numbers getting in touch is down to the fact that the listening service now has a new freephone number.
"In 2013 the number of calls we had in the day was 190 … that was the average from 24th December until January 1, 2014."
"Now we've introduced the new freephone number - 116 123 - in the last six months, are calls have gone up by about 53%."
