Sinéad O'Connor donated proceeds of house sale to addiction treatment centre

HUNDREDS of people in Limerick battling drug addiction benefitted from the generosity of the late Sinéad O'Connor.

The singer sold her home in Atlanta, Georgia and donated the proceeds for the Aljeff treatment centre which was located at Ballysimon Road.

Aljeff, which closed in 2012, received €500,000 through a charitable trust from the proceeds of the home’s sale, something which played a vital role given it needed to raise €250,000 each year to maintain its existing counselling services.

The charity was set up at the turn of the century by Tommy Roche who had seen his two brothers Alan and Jeffrey take their own lives.

It was they whose names inspired the charity. Tragically, another of his brothers John also died by suicide in 2002.

Tommy, who was in his early 30s when Aljeff was set up, had appeared on The Late Late Show to share his family’s grief.

One of the other guests on the night was Ms O’Connor, who was so moved by the story, she immediately agreed to help.

Following the proceeds of the house sale, she also donated a second tranche of money to Aljeff from a television show she performed on with Daniel O’Donnell.

Mick Lacey, the chairman of the Mid West Regional Drugs and Alcohol Forum which provided funding to Aljeff was full of praise for the singer’s generosity.

“Sinéad donated substantial sums of money to this project as a result of high levels of suicide in the Limerick area at the time. I know she was quite concerned and very upset about it - she expressed that. There was a debate on The Late Late Show about it and her money helped set up a resource centre to help prevent suicide and addiction,” he said.