The event had been deferred to allow people to attend the All Ireland Club Football semi-final the previous weekend.

As the almost hundred participants of all ages returned to the centre for tea and sandwiches, it was expected that at least €4,000 will again have been raised this year.

The respite centre, now in its seventh year, gives breaks of two or three weeks to lift the pressure from home carers and to give a change of surroundings to the cared for. It has are 20 beds and is Ireland's first respite unit which is not attached to any other nursing home of medical facility.

Sr Bridie O'Sullivan and Sr Maureen Cahillof the Sisters of St Joseph operate with a staff of about 30, which includes nurses, trained carers and catering and house staff. The voluntary committee which established the centre is chaired by Seamus Stack.

Last Sunday was a special day at the centre for a different reason also. It was the first time that many people had seen the use of leading edge technology which the centre now has available so that people on respite visits to Dromcollogher can maintain contact with their families back home – not just by telephone, but by live video link. And the software that has been developed by a Knockaderry man ensures that it is so user-friendly that even people who are unused to modern technology can enjoy it.

By use of technology, such as Skype, which allows telephone calls over the internet, the respite centre can be linked to other computers in the same way as video conferencing is done between boardrooms. If a family does not have a modern computer at home with webcam and broadband, a simple attachment can be lent so that even old machines can be brought up to standard. And the company which is promoting the use of such technology, Vizitant.com is a not-for-profit operation.

Founder of Vizitant is James Corbett, a UL graduate from Ardrine, Knockaderry,, who had worked in high technology for more than a decade before leaving Analog Devices to set up his own company – a worldwide online social network for the greyhound industry.

Still in his thirties, this provided him with the time and facility to develop the Vizitant idea.

"Our first successful installation is at Dromcollogher, but I would also wish to put it into nursing homes where people have longer stays than is the case with a respite home," he said.

"The cost of equipment is cheap and becoming cheaper, and it is just a matter of getting it across to people that the technology is already here and available and ready to use," he added.