Age Action has urged people to check in on older people in their community who may be experiencing serious difficulties as a result of the prolonged cold weather.
Eamon Timmins of Age Action Ireland said the cold weather presented a challenge for older people, especially those living alone.
He said the older people's charity had received calls from elderly citizens who have been unable to leave their homes for the last four weeks as a result of frozen footpaths and untreated roads.
"We are now in the third week of the big freeze which has left many older people house bound and unable to get essential food, fuel and medical supplies," he said.
Unless they are receiving regular visits from people who can help them, they will now be in serious difficulty, he added.
The president of Active Retirement Ireland, Tom O'Mahony, called on the Government to provide aid to those in receipt of state pensions and other social welfare payments to help them to cope with the icy conditions currently affecting the country.
"A once-off payment of €100 to all social welfare recipients would be no more than the equivalent of extending the Fuel Allowance by five weeks, and would be of great assistance to those most affected by the cold weather," he said.