Ms Sarah Stack:

On the calls, I have been a volunteer in Dublin as well taking calls from young and older people. While we talk about repeat callers, it can be somebody ringing at 6 a.m. to say "Good morning" because I might be the only person he or she will speak to for most of that day. At night, someone could call the helpline to say "Good night" because, again, the volunteer might be the only person he or she speaks to for the evening. While we have repeat callers, they are all for different reasons. Going back to Deputy Ward's question earlier about the services being closed, some of the repeat callers might be over a weekend when the statutory bodies that support them are closed.

In terms of repeat calls and demographics, it is so varied. We hear from every age group, and for every reason. There is never a bad reason to call Samaritans. The volunteers just love to be there to be with people for the moment they need them.