The veteran volunteers who are still on active duty.
'The attitude is, let's warehouse them'
Brian Malone (62) - City of Dublin VEC guidance counsellor
Wheelchair-user Brian Malone (62), a guidance counsellor with the City of Dublin VEC, spends an equal amount of time as an unpaid volunteer and activist. A former chairman of the Irish Wheelchair Association, he is currently representing the Bluebell-Inchicore- Canal Partnership on the Community Forum and is also an activist for the Centre for Independent Living. He believes that many elderly people in nursing homes could remain living in their communities if given adequate supports, such as personal assistants (one of the services he has successfully campaigned for). The RTÉ Prime Time documentary on Leas Cross was "no big surprise" to him. "I know people of a very high standing who have put Mam or Dad off into a home and very seldom visit, so they cannot know what is going on in the home.
"Another part of the problem is the undervaluing of the work in homes, which hire cheap labour and treat the staff like dirt. People are living longer and the attitude is, 'let's warehouse them and let one person look after 20 or 30 and never mind the quality of life'."
He finds that younger people are becoming reluctant to get personally involved in social issues. "It's getting harder to get people to go to meetings. Sometimes you turn up and there is no quorum, but you battle on," he says.
'People are so caught up with themselves'
Una Ní Lachtain (70) - Retired teacher
One reason for the collapse in social capital is lack of time among women, as a result of careers, commuting and child-rearing. None of that ever stopped Una Ní Lachtain, a former teacher who reared three children and cared for her elderly parents, while also finding time to do voluntary work.
Currently a board member of the Dublin City Development Board's Community Forum and of Oireachtas na Gaeilge, Una believes that finding the time is "an attitude of mind" and that those who say they are too busy are probably spending their free time watching TV. She is an advocate for employers giving workers time to care for family and do volunteer work. The Leas Cross scandal is a symptom of the fact that people in their 40s and 50s cannot envisage themselves ever being in a nursing home, she thinks.
"How stupid we are not to be out there advocating better services. People are so caught up with themselves, with furthering their own careers and education. We do need more family-friendly work practices so that people can look after their elderly relatives if they are able. We also need to recognise that caring for vulnerable, dependent people is work that is completely undervalued. We have an obligation to society to care for others. Social capital doesn't just happen. You have to make the effort."
'There's too much off-loading of responsibility'
Betty Ashe (64) - St Andrew's Resource Centre, Pearse Street, Dublin
Growing up in Pearse Street where the generations traditionally looked after one another, Betty Ashe has seen her area transformed for the better by the Celtic Tiger.
Employed by the St Andrew's Resource Centre in Pearse Street, Betty has done voluntary work for nearly 40 years and is currently a voluntary member of the Dublin Dockland Development Authority Council. Social capital is created, to a large extent, by family, she believes.
"There's too much off-loading of responsibility for care of vulnerable, older people onto nursing homes. Elderly people will grow old very quickly intellectually if they are not kept active. It must be dreadful to be in a nursing home vegetating and afraid to speak out for fear of being victimised."
Younger people can no longer afford to live in the Pearse Street area so the generational chain of care is being broken.
"The property boom in one generation has ripped apart social capital," Betty says.
St Andrew's Resource Centre offers lunch to the elderly of the community every day, including transport to and from the centre.
"So if something is happening, we notice and we can put a service in place to offset the disadvantages of the breakdown in social capital. In our area, elderly people only go into residential care if they can go no further with community supports."
'The families dump them there and never reclaim them'
Eddie Cassidy (78) - Secretary of Active Retirement, Eastern Region
Following a 40-year career in Aer Lingus, where he was active in the union, Eddie Cassidy has been a volunteer for the past 15 years.
Active Retirement has 20,000 members in 360 local clubs aimed at encouraging members to remain physically active and mentally curious in "the third and most worthwhile stage of life".
The clubs counteract the loneliness and isolation that can come with retirement, the death of spouses and families moving away.
Eddie suspects that the problems seen at Leas Cross have existed for years in many places.
"I'm told that coming up to Christmas, some hospitals fill with elderly people who have been left in with influenza or minor complaints. The families dump them there and then never reclaim them.
"I think in many cases there is a tendency for society to run away from this problem. Everyone looks the other way. There is a form of selfishness that comes with prosperity and the faster pace of life, which compels us to be preoccupied with our own well-being.
"Years ago when we were less prosperous, we seemed to have more concern for the less fortunate. As prosperity has risen, so has crime, violence and suicide. We're less caring.
"My generation grew up without prosperity, but life was better all round. It was crueller and there were a lot of abuses then as now, but overall I think people were happier."