Leinster Rugby announce Alzheimer Society of Ireland as latest charity partner

Leinster Rugby Club has announced the Alzheimer Society of Ireland (ASI) as its first charity affiliate for 2021/2022.

In the exact same fashion as last season, Leinster Rugby will once again work with a new charity each month in the hope of raising the profile of that charity.

Previously, the club worked with charities such as Women’s Aid, CRY, As I Am, LauraLynn and the Gavin Glynn Foundation over the course of the year.

ASI has also worked with Leinster Rugby before, and was a charity partner back in 2015 when initiatives such as Rugby Memories were launched.

Speaking at Leinster Rugby head office in University College Dublin, ASI CEO Pat McLoughlin said: "I am delighted that ASI is teaming up with Leinster Rugby as part of their charity affiliate programme."

"There are 64,000 people living with dementia in Ireland and each year there are 11,000 new cases – that means today, tomorrow and the next day, 30 people per day will be diagnosed."

"In Leinster alone, there are an estimated 31,693 people currently living with dementia."

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He continued: "We are so very grateful to the management and staff of Leinster Rugby who have all taken such a keen interest in our charity.

"This partnership will allow us to build public awareness of our supports and services in the Leinster area and all across Ireland and to raise much-needed funds to support those living with dementia and their carers."

"We are heavily reliant on donations and partnerships such as this to keep our services going, so we are very grateful to everyone at Leinster Rugby for giving us their incredible support."

 Leinster Rugby also confirmed that Bank of Ireland would support the charity partner scheme again this season and that its Player of the Month Award donation will now be made to the monthly charity affiliate, rather than the player in question, a move that is also supported by the Leinster Rugby players.

Marcus Ó Buachalla, who manages the charity partnerships of behalf of Leinster Rugby also commented: "It’s great to see a charity that we have history with back involved with Leinster Rugby and it was great to meet with their team here this morning in UCD."

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"I know from working with the ASI back in 2015 what brilliant work they do and hopefully we can help raise awareness of that work in the coming weeks."

"We are very grateful in Leinster Rugby to Bank of Ireland for their continued support of this initiative."

He continued: "We launched this scheme last season in response to Covid and we worked with some amazing charities on a local and a national level.

 It is brilliant to be able to launch a similar scheme again here today and I am delighted that the Alzheimer Society of Ireland are the first charity selected."

Like all of the charities selected, the Alzheimer Society of Ireland was selected by Leinster Rugby after a consultation process involving the leadership group of the men, women’s and Academy teams and consultation with the premium sponsors and partners and the Official Leinster Supporters Club.

Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a range of conditions which cause changes and damage to the brain.

The majority of people with dementia (63 per cent) live at home in the community: over 180,000 people in Ireland are currently or have been carers for a family member or partner with dementia, with many more providing support and care in other ways.

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1 in 10 people diagnosed with dementia in Ireland are under 65, and the overall cost of dementia care in Ireland is just over €1.69 billion per annum.

Out of this, 48 per cent is attributable to family care and 43 per cent is accounted for by residential care, while formal health and social care services contribute only 9 per cent to the total cost.

Further information on the supports and services provided by ASI can be found by clicking here.

The ASI Helpline, which is open six days a week Monday to Friday 10am–5pm and Saturday 10am–4pm, is 1800 341 341, and its email is helpline@alzheimer.ie.

A Live Chat service is also available on the ASI website.