Mary Nally, founder of the Senior Help Line, told the Sunday Tribune that volunteers at the organisation's call centres across the country had recorded a sharp increase in calls in recent weeks.

"We have noticed a 20% increase in calls from elderly people with a range of problems including loneliness, health worries, bereavement, financial and family issues and people suffering from abuse or neglect, " said Nally.

"There has been a major change in the fabric of Irish society in recent years. People don't have time for old people any more as everyone is leading more and more busy lives."

Modelled on an Italian project, the Senior Help Line was established in Summerhill, Co Meath in 1998 to provide an ear to distressed elderly people. Ireland's population is ageing at a rate that is one of fastest in Europe.

Dr Nazih Eldin, advisor to the Senior Help Line, said:

"As the help line is getting more and more calls and the HSE services are under increasing pressure, it appears that elder abuse is a growing problem in Ireland.

"There is a multitude of reasons for the increase in elder abuse. Some of it is due to life becoming more hectic and people not having time for old people any more. As pressure on family members is increasing, they seem to have less time to spend with old people and as a result old people are often neglected.

There can also be financial abuse where family members pressurise people into selling homes and transferring over the money."

Statistics obtained by the Sunday Tribune reveal that 26% of all calls made to the Senior Help Line last year were from people with financial and family issues or those who claimed to have been abused or neglected.

Eibhlinn Byrne, chairperson of the National Council on Ageing and Older People, said: "If you have a society which doesn't respect the elderly, abuse will thrive. We need to put adequate support structures in place in communities to help prevent elder abuse."

Noel Byrne, who runs the Westgate Foundation, a respite centre for elderly people in Cork, criticised the government for not doing enough about elder abuse.

"Abuse or claims of abuse should have to be reported to the gardai and the health service, " he said. "Politicians need to grasp the nettle and make this a statutory obligation."

Paul Murray of Age Action Ireland said it was estimated that between three and five per cent of elderly people were victims of abuse, ranging from financial to physical abuse.