ORGANISATIONS working with the elderly have reiterated calls for the public to look after their more vulnerable neighbours while the cold spell persists.
The Alone organisation expressed gratitude to hundreds of volunteers and thousands of members of the public who were ensuring that the elderly were looked after, but it said that this should continue.
A spokesman said all 71 of the agency's houses for the elderly are occupied and arrangements had been made to house a few others during the Christmas period.
Alone covers Dublin and parts of the surrounding counties, providing fuel, clothing and other comforts to old people. "We have about 200 active volunteers out there," the spokesman said.
The Society of St Vincent de Paul said its volunteers were busy calling on the elderly and immobile, many of whom were finding it difficult to get to the shops in the cold weather. "We're doubling deliveries of fuel, giving people hot drinks, reassuring them about their ESB bills, giving out hot water bottles if their bedrooms aren't heated. All that sort of thing."
Meanwhile, Muintir na Tire - the Irish community development movement - called on people to make a special effort to be "good neighbours during the cold spell. The organisation's president, Mr Jim Quigley, stressed the danger to the elderly of hypothermia and he urged people to visit neighbours to help with meals, ensure that fires were lit and that at least one room in a house was well heated.
