One Direction's Niall Horan has said that his 89-year-old granny in Mullingar is the inspiration behind his work with charity ALONE, which focuses on isolated elderly people in Ireland.
Speaking via video call on Friday’s Late Late Show, the 26-year-old said, "We might complain about not being able to go to a football game or a pub but these people are inside their houses anyway but now they can’t even go to their local shop, going to meet their friends at the post office like my granny literally would go up the village and do bits and pieces, or go to retirement groups or whatever.
"I was thinking of her and she’s been alone for a long time and she’s fine with that but there are other people who are not. You hear conversations about elderly people being alone at Christmas but imagine including all of this too. I’m doing other stuff outside of ALONE but they are doing a great job."
Horan, who recently released his second solo album, Heartbreak Weather, added, "Luckily enough I'm in a position that I can help out in that kind of way, and I feel like people in my sort of position should be stepping up in a time like this and I don’t particularly need or want any plaudits. This is something I should be doing."
He also revealed that he has been in contact with An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who was also a guest on Friday’s Late Late.
"I felt like instead of just throwing and hoping it sticks to the wall, maybe have a chat with someone who knows where it should be going," Horan said.
"I ended up, through friends and contacts, getting in touch with our Taoiseach Mr Varadkar and he was kinda pointing me in the direction of a few different places."
He also discussed his involvement in the government wellness campaign, In This Together, which saw Hozier, U2’s The Edge, Imelda May, Dermot Kennedy and Westlife team up to encourage people to "unite by staying apart".
