ALONE, the voluntary organisation for older people in need, opened 14 new homes in Kilmainham, Dublin, yesterday. They have been built for people who might otherwise end their lives in derelict or unfit accommodation.
The new scheme brings to more than 100 the number of homes ALONE has provided for elderly people. A nearby 22-unit scheme in Kilmainham Lane was the last work of ALONE founder Mr Willie Bermingham before his death.
The Dublin fireman founded the organisation in 1977.
He often came across abandoned and neglected elderly people living in squalid conditions - but it was an incident of an old man crawling in to a packing case to die that led him to set up the organisation.
The new apartments, which cost €2.2 million, were funded by the Department of the Environment, Dublin City Council and donations.
Mr Aidan Bowers, chairman of ALONE volunteers, said the number of people dying lonely in unfit accommodation had dropped in recent years but it was still too high. He urged people to keep an eye on older people living alone this winter. "If you discover a person or couple in Dublin over 60 years of age unable to pay to heat their accommodation, we want to help."
ALONE can be contacted at
1, Willie Bermingham Place, Kilmainham Lane, Dublin 8, or at alone@iol.ie
