In late 1975 a public meeting was held in Waterford which was addressed by RTE newsreader Charles Mitchell and it was decided to form a branch of the Samaritans. Subsequently on 1st March 1976 Waterford and South East Samaritans was officially opened by Fr Martin Slattery who was the first Branch Director.
The initial group of volunteers were trained by Cork based volunteers and since then over 1000 volunteers have been trained in Waterford. Today fifty years later, in the early afternoon the Mayor of Waterford Clr Seamus Ryan planted a tree in the People's Park to commemorate the charity's 50 years in Waterford which was attended by Minister Mary Butler and some local volunteers led by the Branch Director Fintan Duffy.
The party then retired to 16 Beau Street Waterford where the Samaritans are based and Clr Ryan and the Minister Butler gave excellent speeches and thanked all the Samaritans (past and present) who attended for their service. Director Fintan responded and thanked the First Citizen and Minister for attending and their kind words. He also thanked the volunteers using the term ordinary people doing an extraordinary thing by being there for our callers. The Samaritan motto is that fewer people die by suicide.
The help line where anyone can call to discuss any life problems no matter how small is 116123 (freefone) available 24/7 every day of the year. In 2025 Waterford branch answered 20,000 calls which is approximately 5,000 listening hours as well as a number of emails and face to face visits. So from humble beginnings in 1976 the branch is now a very important part of the 16 branches in the Republic of Ireland. The branch, aside from the above services,also engages in outreach work which consists of attending various events, secondary schools, community meetings and street collections throughout the South East.
We will have a number of events during the year to marked our 50 years in Waterford.
The branch currently has 81 volunteers and anyone interested in joining can contact The Branch Director,16 Beau Street ,Waterford for further information.
