The organisation, which is dedicated to helping elderly people in need, says it has buried 12 or 13 people in the last 12 months who had no family members and burial plot organised for themselves when they died.

A few of these people were non-nationals who had no contacts in the country, while others were people who had "just drifted from their family, " said Pat Lane of Alone.

"Since 1998, we have taken care of the Millennium Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery [formerly known as the paupers' plot], " he said. "We maintain the plot and make sure these people are buried with dignity. That includes a funeral, with a headstone and flowers."

In the past 18 months, Alone has been contacted by three relatives who discovered that their loved ones had been looked after by the charity.

"One woman found out not only that her brother had been buried there, but her sister as well, " said Lane. "So we arranged for her name to be inscribed on his headstone. These are families who have drifted away from each other and when they tried to retrace their steps, they came to us."

The news comes just days after it emerged that an elderly Dublin woman died after she fell in her home and lay undiscovered for nearly two weeks.

Mary O'Reilly, 77, survived on holy water and biscuits after falling in her home in Crumlin in 2004. An inquest last week heard that she died 17 days after being admitted to hospital.

Lane described a recent phonecall the charity received from an elderly lady who was living on her own.

"She told us, 'that's the first voice I've heard in two weeks', " he said. "After ten minutes of conversation, she said, 'I feel great now.' You could really hear the difference in her voice. People just don't realise how much a simple gesture can mean."

There have been several reported cases recently of elderly people dying without friends and family knowing.

Last April, Claire Harte, 79, who had lived for 40 years in Dublin's north inner city, lay dead for six weeks before neighbours discovered her body.

Just last month, gardai appealed for any relatives of William Costigan, 67, to contact them. Costigan, from Stoneybatter, died on 28 June without any relatives present.

"Over the next few months, we are going to see more of these kinds of cases, " said Lane. "People really need to become more aware of the elderly people in their community and not wait to read in the papers how they lay on the floor for two weeks."