Shadow of recession still looms with 20% of callers to Samaritans citing financial stress

One in five callers to the Samaritans said they had financial worries, as new figures show the recession still casts a long shadow.

The Samaritans snapshot survey of callers to its Dublin office in the last week of November revealed 528 people called the number, with 20.4% discussing financial concerns — 3% higher than the equivalent figure in the same survey conducted a year before.

A similar survey was conducted across four Samaritans offices in the UK over the same week, but none had as high a proportion of callers citing financial stresses as the reason for making contact. Across the five offices where callers were surveyed, 13.8% mentioned financial strain — meaning the Irish office figure was well above the average.