Welcome Addresses

Profile of Organisation - ALONE

ALONE is a national organisation that enables older people to age at home. Our work is for all older people and aims to improve physical, emotional and mental wellbeing.

Through ALONE’s Community Impact Network (CIN) we are empowering the older persons sector, through building the collective leadership and capacity of organisations nationwide to meet the needs of older people. We do this through Training, Networking, Technology, and Best Practise.

Through the CIN, we deliver Hi Digital, a national programme tackling digital literacy amongst older persons.  Our role within this programme is to train up Digital Champion in organisations, schools and businesses to support older persons use their device and get online in their communities. In 2023, we trained more than 1,200 Digital Champions nationwide.

We were delighted when University of Limerick students came on board as one of our first third-level institutions to train as Digital Champions in June. Following the training on campus, 12 student Digital champions were matched with 18 over-65’s from a local retirement group based in Patrickswell to support on internet basics, smartphone use, researching hobbies, organizing travel, using apps, and online banking and more.

The students played an absolute blinder. It was a fun, informal learning environment for all with some incredibly positive feedback from both students and learners alike.

We wish to sincerely thank Linda and the team in UL for recruiting such engaged students for the project and for all the support and time the students generously gave.

We look forward to working with UL students on community initiatives in the new academic year.

Guest Speaker 

Padraic Rocliffe, Founder and CEO, Prosperity in People Foundation (PIP).

My name is Padraic Rocliffe and I started the Prosperity in People Foundation because I want to give back to the most vulnerable in society.

What I want is for people to be happy, to be healthy, to be well, to be fed, watered, cleaned and clothed. I want people to be educated and apply skills learnt from others experiences to reach their full potential in happiness. Most of all I want people to be prosperous physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.