The cold weather means people are choosing between heating their homes or feeding themselves this year.
That's according to Saint Vincent De Paul who say they expect to reach a peak of 1,400 calls per week in December as people in Cork are reaching out to them as they struggle to cope with energy costs, increased prices for fuel and dramatic rises in the price of food.
The charity also say that the most significant increase in calls this year is coming from lower-income earners in full time employment.
Speaking to RedFM News, Regional Co-Ordinator St Vincent De Paul, Gerry Garvey says energy costs are the primary concern for callers:
"There's no impediment to anyone coming to us. The only requirements is to be nice. Sometimes people, going through a bad patch and are in desperate need, particularly if you have a small business or staff on site and you hit bad times. They often call in and I think we're going to see quite a lot of that in the coming months."
