More than £290,000 was spent last year by the Waterford area St Vincent de Paul Society helping people in crisis, and calls are coming in daily, according to a spokesperson.
This is the other side of the Christmas spending spree and the development boom in the south-east. The society's direct interface with deprivation leads it to assert that more people have to struggle to live today than before the economic upswing.
At the start of the society's annual Christmas appeal last week, the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Dr William Lee, said there were more people living below the poverty line today than 10 years ago.
The area president of the society, Ms Anne Waters, said short-term crises could beset people regardless of boundaries and circumstances. "More and more they are affecting people who come from what are perceived to be affluent areas," she added.
More of the society's resources are being directed into education, with the long-term aspiration of helping low-income families to become self-sufficient. Some £40,000 was spent this year in this area.
At this time of year, the work of the voluntary bodies, and their appeals, are most crucial. Waterford has several long-standing campaigns that traditionally ease the pressures for many.
The Waterford Lions Club and WLR FM Christmas hamper appeal was also launched last week by the Mayor, Mr Tom Cunningham. In its long history, this appeal has raised more than £1 million, and the target this year is £72,000, which will ensure that some 2,200 people and families will have food on their tables this Christmas.
Ireland lacks adequate deprivation indices to measure continuously the impact of poverty from area to area. But because the health boards recognise that poor health status and shorter life expectancy are linked to low economic status and deprivation, they assemble some of their available statistical data in a manner that gives some indication of the problems.
The annual report of the director of public health for the south-east, Dr Orlaith O'Reilly, confirmed there were distinct variations in socio-economic conditions, both among different areas within the region, and between the region as a whole and the situation nationally.
A good indicator is the proportion of the population within an area who hold general medical cards. In the south-east, this ranges from 36.1 per cent in Tipperary SR to 41.1 per cent in Co Carlow.
Overall, the south-east has about 28 per cent of its population in the lowest social classes, class 6 and class 7, as defined by the CSO. This compares to 25 per cent nationally. Moreover, the Labour Force Survey in April last year showed an estimated unemployment rate for the region of 14 per cent, compared to 13 per cent nationally.
Significantly also, census figures show that in the south-east just 14 per cent of the population are older than 17 years on completion of their full-time education, compared to 17 per cent of the national population.