At least two in three calls made to the Samaritans in the last year were ‘out of hours' calls, highlighting the need for a reliable support service around the clock, the organisation has said.

It has just published its 2012-2013 Impact Report, which shows that over 381,000 calls were received in the last year, 68% of which were out of hours calls, an increase of 9% on the previous year.

Of these, almost 40% were made between the hours of midnight and 6am. Between midnight and 1am on Friday and Saturday nights were the busiest times of the entire week.

The report noted that while the overall number of callers to the service fell by 7%, the number of contacts via other methods jumped by 18%. Over 13,000 emails and almost 10,000 text messages were received by the service.

"Our vision has always been the same, but in order to remain relevant, the way we listen has changed. We're seeing a marked increase in the number of people who are contacting us by other mediums. A whole generation of people are now coming through that don't instinctively pick up the phone. They prefer to use email or text as a mode of communication," explained Catherine Brogan, executive director of Samaritans Ireland.

The report also noted that almost 8,000 people had face-to-face contact with the Samaritans in the last year, a 14% increase on the previous year.

Ms Brogan explained that a ‘number of dynamics' had resulted in changes to the type and timing of people's contacts with the Samaritans.

"For starters, we are noticing that night-time periods are increasingly busy with more calls coming through, and these calls are lasting longer. This, in our experience, is down to the fact that there are now more daytime services and helplines available and as part of our partnership work, many of these divert into Samaritans' service after hours," she noted.

She said that this highlights ‘the vital need to have a resilient, reliable and available support service round the clock, particularly when other frontline services are closed'.

"It's clear that increasingly, Samaritans is acting as a safety net for all of Ireland's emotional support services," Ms Brogan insisted.

She pointed out that while calls to the service have fallen, there has been a ‘marked shift away from landline usage to mobiles', which costs more money.

However, the organisation will be launching a new free-to-caller number - 116 123 - next year, which will remove this barrier.

Meanwhile, the report noted that the issues of most concern to callers in the last year were family problems, relationship problems, depression and other mental health issues, loneliness and stress.

"With many of these issues, having the opportunity to talk them through with a trained listener offers huge relief. Where Samaritans feels a person could benefit from a greater intervention, we signpost them to alternative services so that they can access the support they need," Ms Brogan explained.

Speaking at the launch of the report, the organisation's regional director for Ireland, Pio Fenton, thanked its 2,000 volunteers around the country. He described them as the ‘beating heart' of the Samaritans.

"Each volunteer spends 15 hours on average each month as a listener and undergoes a rigorous programme of initial and ongoing training. Our volunteers are ordinary people who provide a safe space to talk and we will be looking to expand our volunteer base over the coming year."

The Samaritans helpline is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at 1850 60 90 90. Alternatively, email jo@samaritans.org