Ms Catherine Brogan:

The piloting and then the launch of the 116123 number has been the most visible project during my tenure as executive director of the Samaritans.

We were aware of the likely increase in call numbers from a series of pilots undertaken during late 2013, but the response to the number and the speed of the changeover from our previous national low call number, 1850 609090, has exceeded our expectations. Within three months, we had reached the target both for the percentage of calls and the overall growth that we had set for the first year of our two year launch agreement.

We have invested in our technology and in our people in the period since March 2014 to allow us to meet the needs of our callers to the same high standard that our organisation has prided itself on for the past 62 years. As Ms Leo mentioned, we have added a new location to our network of 12 branches in the Republic and volunteers in our east coast service in Arklow have answered more than 11,000 calls since they started operation last year.

We are investing heavily in our central telephony system, increasing our capacity from 30 to 50 simultaneous calls that can be received and moving our service to a resilient location. We have plans in place to install high-speed fibre broadbrand in each of our branches to future proof our network and ensure our ongoing quality and consistency of service. As a result of the free to caller service 116123, we have been able to develop key partnerships, such as our work with the GAA and the HSE "LittleThings" campaign. We are able to take transfers to support other helplines which do not operate a 24-hours-a-day service, such as the Carers Association of Ireland, LGBT, Aware, Cura and Shine.

In addition to developing and enhancing key partnerships and relationships, the organisation undertakes ongoing work to ensure our governance and compliance with legislation and regulations is carried out and reviewed on an ongoing basis, for example, data protection and Garda vetting. The Samaritans have always operated to the highest standards of confidentiality and respect both for our callers and volunteers and we are proud that we have carried this level of quality in our service with us while hugely increasing the numbers of callers we can support across all the services provided by the Samaritans.