Dublin Samaritans

Dublin Samaritans refers to the Dublin, Ireland, branch of the Irish and UK registered charity Samaritans. The Dublin branch is based at 112 Marlborough Street where it has occupied the same premises for the past 20+ years.
Statistics
There are 260 active volunteers in Dublin, manning a large city-centre building for 24 hours a day and dealing with 86,000 contacts a year on six emergency telephone lines, in a number of private interview rooms and on computer for emails and text messages.
Branch history
The originator of the Dublin Samaritans was Canon Billy Wynne of the Church of Ireland. He was assisted by Vincent Grogan S.C. and Fr. John F. Brennan S.J. These two Catholics balanced the negative attitude of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, towards the new organisation. The organisation survived an early crisis, when the executive director was dismissed in 1973. Since then the position has been held by a volunteer member of the organisation. It has had 17 directors to date, each usually serving a three-year term.
On 2 March 1970 the first branch of Samaritans in the Republic of Ireland opened in a single room at 39 Kildare Street, Dublin - a building scheduled for demolition. A handful of volunteers staffed a room in relays for 8.5 hours a day, taking calls on a single telephone and answering the door to an occasional visitor.

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