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OLDER PEOPLE STRUGGLING to deal with the isolation caused by the emigration of both their children and grandchildren sought comfort from an Irish run helpline in 2012.
The ‘Senior Helpline‘, which is operated by the national voluntary organisation Third Age Ireland, received in the region of 15,000 calls in 2012.
Up over 50 per cent on the previous year, their head of communications, Anne Dempsey, told TheJournal.ie that the service, which operates from 16 different locations and has 360 volunteers, dealt with a wide range of issues throughout the year.
“We were open all over Christmas this year,” she says. “While we got the usual calls from people who would ring up right throughout the year, Christmas brought calls from people which were related to family bereavements and thoughts of health.”
The emigration of family members also proved difficult for many, with some callers having to deal with two generations of their family leaving.
“Two other areas that emerged were people worried about the year ahead from a financial perspective,” Dempsey says. “A lot of the people who ring us are entirely reliant on government payments and are worried about the upcoming property tax and fuel charges.”
The helpline is open each day from 10am to 10pm and costs the price of a local call. Its number is 1850 440 444.
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Great, 84 new real estate agents.
I’ll cross my fingers for them as I believe the Central Bank just strangled their golden goose.
The main problem we have is the amount of money being taken out of our economy to service a debt run up by irresponsible banks, both here and abroad. Until that problem is tackled there just isn’t enough money in our economy for real sustained growth for indigenous businesses. I’ve only stayed in business because I did not have huge loans to service and I was able to keep my overheads low. Ive seen plenty of good businesses go under because they can no longer sustain the overheads imposed by landlords & councils that still work on tiger prices.
Michael,
The banks were less than half the problem. The collapse of govt revenue and inability to cut the servicing of public services quickly to match revenue was just as big a problem
That’s true James.
Isn’t that it will “beat all predictions” a prediction, meaning that it can never actually beat all predictions?
Another flash in the pan.
have your say