Age Action calls for awareness of elderly friends

Irish people are being asked to be aware of their older friends or relatives this Christmas.

Some 29% of older people live alone in Ireland, many of them in nursing homes.

Paul Murray of Age Action Ireland said a call or a visit can reduce their sense of isolation.

"While we have to respect privacy, sometimes it's better to risk embarrassment and knock on somebody's door rather than to wish later that you had done so," he said.