The Society of the St Vincent de Paul says they are getting twice as many calls now as they did in 2009.

Between now and Christmas in the region of 140,000 people throughout the country will be visited by SVP volunteers.

National Vice President Tom Mac Sweeney says Ireland's poorest are being ignored by the government.

"We don't think the government is quite listening to what we are saying. We know the people are because they support us in the annual appeal every year. We do need more help. We will still be visiting 400,000 people a year. We expect to visit 20 - 30,000 before Christmas," he said.

The SVP has launched its annual appeal for 2014: