Since Christmas, almost 5,000 requests for assistance have been made to the charity in the Dublin area.
Between January and March almost 4,000 callers contacted the SVP in the Dublin area.
That is twice as many as the same time last year.
Most people who called wanted help with paying rising food bills or higher fuel costs.
But critically many had not needed help for 10 years or more and many in employment were also seeking financial assistance.
The price of food is 9.3% higher than one year ago, bread is up 23% and milk is up 33%, electricity and gas bills have also risen by 12.3%.
Coupled with the 11,000 redundancies since the start of the year, the slowdown is now hurting many more families.
SVP says it will be appealing to the new Minister for Finance when appointed this week to look seriously at improving welfare and housing benefits for those in need.
