New figures from Senior Help Line show emotional abuse is still the most common type of mistreatment but more and more callers are saying they are suffering financial abuse.
The figures reveal that in 2% of calls to the helpline in 2008, the caller said they were being abused but so far this year that figure has risen to 5.7%
Organisers of the helpline say the recession is the cause of much of the increase with elderly people being subjected to more and more abuse from family members over issues such as money, land and wills.
New figures from the HSE also show that over 1,225 cases of elder abuse have been referred to them to the end of August.
Last year, 25% of the 1,840 cases referred were confirmed cases where abuse was in fact taking place.
