16 ............... Tuesday, July 10, 2018 1RM

CHARITIES IN FEARCHARITIES IN FEAR OF LOSING VITAL FUNDING OF LOSING VITAL FUNDING2 firmslinkedto Rontax case

IRISH OPS LEAKEDBy BARRY MORAN

TWO firms linked to a multi-million eurotax fraud involving Cristiano Ronaldo arebased in Dublin, it has emerged.

The Real Madrid star was last monthhanded a two-year suspended jail sentenceand fined €18.8million after reaching a dealwith Spanish authorities over tax evasion.

Ronaldo admitted four charges of fraud meaningunder Spanish law he wouldn’t need to face any timein jail. A new book — Football Leaks: Uncovering theDirty Deals behind the Beautiful Game — has shedlight on how the 33-year-old fun-nelled his fortune through Ireland.

Authors Rafael Buschmann andMichael Wulzinger write: “Polarisand MIM, both of which playedcentral roles in the offshore com-pany constructs of football players,were registered at Ulysses House,the most expensive office buildingin Dublin.”

The Irish Sun has learned thatboth companies have moved office.

Ronaldo’s image rights are han-dled by Tollin Associates, based inthe British Virgin Islands tax haven.

Spanish prosecutors claimed it granted exploitationof the rights to MIM with the aim of evading revenueauthorities.

Although Ronaldo agreed a settlement last month,reports in Spain suggest such cases may not be over.

In 2017, Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho set-tled with Spain’s inland revenue over a €3.3milliontax fraud relating to image rights payments hereceived when Real Madrid boss in 2011 and 2012.

But the Spanish ministry of finance, Gestha, is nowsaid to have asked tax chiefs to “reconsider the nego-tiated offer” and impose a bigger fine.

Gestha are believed to have asked tax chiefs to“reconsider the negotiated offer to make sure that thequoted tax frauds and fines aren’t less than theadministrative costs after reducing the prison sen-tences to 24 months”.

Biz web . . MIM, Polaris had offices in Ulysses House

Fined . . . Ronaldo

INDIA’S Supreme Court has upheld the deathpenalty for three men convicted in the gang rape andmurder of a young woman in Delhi in 2012.

The three men — Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma andMukesh — had petitioned the Supreme Court to con-sider less severe punishment.

Reading a statement from the three-judge bench,Justice Ashok Bhushan said: “There is no merit inthe petitions.” A fourth man did not make an appeal.

DEATH RAP KEPT

off completely. Between 2013and 2016, they received over€60,000 from courts aroundthe country, including €6,250from the Summons Office in2013.

As a charity that looks afterchildren up to the age of fivewith severe intellectual andphysical developmental delays,as well as end of life care foryoung children, every centcounts.

She said: “Jack and Jill relyon fundraising. We need€3.5million every year for ourservice.

“We are open 365 days ayear and there is no waitinglist or no means test. Cur-rently we have 360 childrenwho all have severe develop-mental delays and may not beable to walk or talk, or may

Trust, have also been big ben-efactors, it is the smaller char-ities who often rely on thesehandouts from the courts tokeep themselves running.

Many of these do not receiveGovernment funding and relysolely on fundraising andhandouts like these to keep

going. Athlone’s Society forPrevention of Cruelty toAnimals said they havebenefited from thecourt poor box in theirlocal area every yearfor over 15 years, with

amounts varyingfrom €100 to €500annually.

Welfare officer BillyGallagher called the

news “worrying”but said he

hopes the

new rules will mean any ani-mal cruelty cases will seefunds go to charities liketheirs. He said: “We rely oncourt poor box funding tohelp us pay our vet bills forinjured or sick animals in ourcare.

“We have heard about thislaw going to be changed for anumber of years and it is veryworrying to us. The judgeoften hears cases of animalneglect and cruelty and finesthe guilty person and thismoney can go into the poorbox and we can use it to tryand make neglected animals’lives better.”

Jean Young, of the Jack andJill Children’s Foundation, saidit is good news that victims’charities will receive more butthat others should not be cut

By NICOLA BARDON

CHARITIES could soonlose out on millions ofeuro of donations fromthe courts’ ‘poor box’under new moves —with funds insteadgoing to victims ofcrime.

Currently each courtin the country has adonation box wherethe judge can, attheir discretion,impose a fine thatis given to a partic-ular charity of theirchoice.

This has been used todonate to both local ser-vices and national charitiesover the years.

The poor box is mainlyused in the District Courtsfor crimes of a less seriousnature or which would not geta sentence behind bars.

Or if it is someone’s firsttime before the courts, thejudge may decide to give thebenefit of the doubt andimpose a poor box penaltyinstead. Offences can rangefrom drunk and disorderly,road traffic violations to minordrug charges.

In 2016, just some of thecases that were fined todonate to the poor boxincluded Tesco Ireland forselling cigarettes to someoneaged 17, a man who exposedhimself to a McDonald’sworker and a man who stole acase of beer.

While some have called foran end to the option of payingtheir way out of an offence,others have praised the ideafor giving a good cause fund-ing out of a bad situation.

Now the Justice MinisterCharlie Flanagan has told theIrish Sun he wants to replacethe poor box with a Repara-tion Fund — one central fundthat will instead pay out toservices for victims of crimeand others to stop reoffending.

The minister said: “This leg-islation will provide for atransparent statutory Repara-tion Fund to replace the CourtPoor Box under which a courtmay require an offender tomake a payment to be used fora charitable purpose instead ofincurring a conviction.

“The new Reparation Fundwill be used to provide addi-tional funding for services forvictims of crime and compen-sation payments payable by theCriminal Injuries Compensa-tion Tribunal. The fund, whichwill apply only to minoroffences, will be ring-fencedfor the provision of compensa-tion, reparation and assistancefor victims of crime.”

The legislation is still in thedrafting stage but whenbrought forward it will meanthere will be just one fundand all monies collected willbe put into that. Judges willalso no longer be able todecide what charity will bene-fit from the offender’s dona-tion. Next month will see theCourts Service release their2017 poor box figures, butbetween 2013 and 2016, morethan €6.9million was dividedbetween hundreds of charities.

In 2016 alone, the CapuchinDay Centre in Dublin got thehighest amount from the poorbox with €57,585 goingtowards their homelesswork.

The ChristianBlind Missionreceived the secondbiggest amountwith €53,000.

And while otherwell-known chari-ties, such as theIrish Heart Founda-tion, Pieta Houseand the PeterMcVerry

Fund plan . . . Flanagan

Boxed in . . . charities have reacted cautiously to Flanagan’s proposals

1RM Tuesday, July 10, 2018 ............... 17

CHARITIES IN FEARCHARITIES IN FEAR OF LOSING VITAL FUNDING OF LOSING VITAL FUNDING

Funding help . . . poor box

Who getswhat fromthe court donationsATHLONE: ALF Project (Athlone Looking Forward) — €10,000BALLINA: Garda Benevolent Trust Fund — €450BALLINASLOE: St Vincent de Paul Society Loughrea — €1,145BLANCHARDSTOWN: D15 Hos-pice Fund — €7,689.28BRAY: Jack and Jill Foundation — €3,250CARLOW: St Vincent de Paul Car-low — €2,000CARRICK-ON-SHANNON: Both Scoil Naisiunta Naomh Padraig and St Vincent de Paul Leitrim received €500CASTLEBAR: Mayo Mountain Res-cue Team — €2,250CAVAN: Termann Domestic Abuse Service — €250CHILDREN’S COURT: St Vincent de Paul — €230CIVIL OFFICE DUBLIN: Our Lady’s Children Hospital — €6,000CLONAKILTY: Both Bandon Tidy Towns and Scoil Phobail Bheara got €2,500CLONMEL: Cuan Soar Women’s Refuge — €15,000CLOVERHILL: St Vincent de Paul Clondalkin — €100CORK: Cork Penny Dinners — €20,950CRIMINAL COURTS OF JUSTICE: Capuchin Day Centre — €41,120DONEGAL: Donegal Hospice — €1,460DUN LAOGHAIRE: Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Outreach Programme — €10,970DUNDALK: North Louth Hospice — €3,700ENNIS: Bedford Row Family Project — €30,000GALWAY: Croi na Gaillimhe — €3,000KILKENNY: Loreto Secondary School — €3,500LETTERKENNY: Pieta House Don-egal — €300LIMERICK: Child and Family Sol-utions — €26,454.92LONGFORD: Longford’s Women Link — €12,000MALLOW: Anchor Alcohol and Drug Treatment Centre — €9,900MONAGHAN: Castleblayney Scout Group — €550MULLINGAR: EYE Project — €12,150NAAS: Both Temple St and Bub-bles for Ciaran got €2,500NENAGH & THURLES: Novas — €1,000PORTLAOISE: Medicins san Fron-tieres and Foroige — €4,000 eachROSCOMMON: Trocaire — €200SLIGO: St Vincent de Paul Sligo — €2195.46SUMMONS OFFICE DMD: Pieta House — €16,775SWORDS: Sacred Heart Primary School Autism Unit — €4,300TALLAGHT DMD: Animal Trust Fund — €5,950TRALEE: Both Christian Blind Mission and Sightsavers Interna-tional got €53,000 eachTRIM: Dogs in Distress — €1,000TULLAMORE: Guardian Ad Litem Maeve Drummey — €6,990WATERFORD: Rosedale Residen-tal Home and Retirement Village and South East Simon Commu-nity — €4,000WEXFORD: Cornmarket Project and Garda Benevolent Trust Fund — €1,150 eachYOUGHAL: Dungarvan Juvenile GAA, Irish Pilgrimage Trust and Treo each got €2,000* Figures for 2016

be fed through a tube. We thinkthey do better at home so we sup-ply home nurses and respite tothese 360 children. Our model isvery simple. All the money goes tothe patients — €16 means one hourof nursing for a sick child frombirth to five years of age.

“Funding like this is a big dealfor us and that hour is needed bythe child and the parents who needa break and the help and support.

“Every penny does really countfor us and the poor box donationshave been really important.”

ACT for Meningitis is a not-for-profit organisation based in Galwaywhich was set up in 2011 after thedeath of Siobhan and Noel Carroll’sdaughter Aoibhe. She passed awayin 2008 when she was just fourfrom meningitis and the charity inher honour receives no long-termGovernment funding. Siobhan told

the Irish Sun: “We received €500 ayear for the last three years fromthe court poor boxes.

“As we receive no long-term sus-tainable Government funding it willalways be a massive challenge forour non-profit organisation tomaintain the work we do so thecharity poor box is a vital servicefor ACT for Meningitis.

“The money we receive goes backinto support services and nationalmeningitis awareness campaigns.

“Government budget restraintshas led to a high dependency oncommunity and corporate fundrais-ing in a very competitive market.

“Our commitment to diversifyingfundraising streams coupled withour dedication and passion has ledto strong and growing relationshipswith our donors and partnersenabling us to continue to grow ourservices as required. Minister Flan-

agan needs to keep the poor boxesin place as small organisations suchas ourselves rely on all means ofsupport to continue our work andthis money makes a difference aswe continue to be committed tothose we meet every day who havebeen affected by meningitis for aslong as they need support.”

And children’s charity Cliona’sFoundation, which helps with thenon-medical costs for families ofchildren with life-limiting condi-tions, said “every cent matters”.Spokesperson Phil Deegan added:“This could include, but are notlimited to, parents accommodation,travel and petrol costs, car parking,food or specialised equipment.

“We are the only charity provid-ing this type of support across arange of life-limiting illnesses andfrom birth to 16 years of age. Wereceive no State funding so rely

solely on personal and corporatedonations and fundraising activitiesand events.

“We have supported more than525 families across 29 counties overthe past 11 years. We are only avery recent recipient of poor boxmonies — receiving €500 in 2016and €750 in 2017.

“It is not a massive amount butyou will appreciate every cent mat-ters for us. These contributionswould form part of a cheque thatwould be sent out to our eligiblefamilies. Naturally we would loveto be receiving a lot more.

“We can appreciate the criticismthe poor box has come under interms of it replacing other penaltiesthat should be applied and beingviewed as a very soft touch. How-ever, the compromise may be tohave both working together — pen-alties applied along with donation.”

THAT’SPOORFORM

6It will always be a massive challenge for

our non-profit organisation to

maintain the work

we do7SIOBHAN CARROLL

ACT for Meningitis

6Every penny does really

count and poor box donations

have really been important to our fund7JEAN YOUNG

Jack & Jill Children’sFoundation

6We rely on the court poor box funding to help us pay our vet bills for injured or sick animals

in our care7

BILLY GALLAGHERSPCA Athlone

24 ............... Monday, August 27, 2018 1RM

By NICOLA BARDON

BABY Freddie Campbellsuffered a lung and brainhaemorrhage, three car-diac arrests and died for23 minutes after beingborn at 26 weeks.

But here he is now thrivingand smiling after reaching hisfirst birthday.

The adorable youngster hasastounded doctors in Dublin’s HollesStreet Hospital as well as parentsEoin and Eimear Halpenny afterbattling through most of his life.

The mum and dad were told manytimes there was a chance Freddiecould die, and their families werecalled in to say goodbye six times.

He had multiple surgeries andspent the first nine months betweenSt Vincent’s Hospital, Holles Streetand Crumlin, weighing the sameamount as an iPhone.

Freddie couldn’t even be held forfour months and his parents had noidea what he looked like.

Eimear knew it was a high-riskpregnancy but it was a shock whenhe arrived so early.

She said: “I have my own healthissues and I had to have my boweltaken out six years ago. I have astoma bag and as a result of that,when I did get pregnant, they toldme I would be high-risk but theynever said I would go at 26 weeks.

“At 21 weeks we got a scare andmy stomach kinked and I was inhospital for a week but thankfully itfixed itself. But then I got so ill thatI needed life-saving surgery and thisbrought his birth on unfortunately.

“On the Friday I was in Vincent’s,I started getting contractions in therecovery room when I came out ofsurgery so they put me in an ambu-lance over to Holles Street but thenthe contractions stopped so theybrought me back to Vincent’s.

“And then on Sunday it happenedagain and I gave birth 40 minuteslater in St Vincent’s — he was thefirst baby to be born there ever.”

But unlike most births where themother can hold her child straight-away, Freddie was rushed to HollesStreet, and Eimear wasn’t able tohold her first son for over fourmonths. She also contracted sepsismeaning she had to fight for herown life and was left in St Vincent’sfor two-and-a-half weeks.

While there, Freddie seemed finefor the first four days, before he suf-fered a lung haemorrhage.

Eimear said: “That was the start ofall of his problems. It meant hestayed on life support for fivemonths, he couldn’t breathe. Andthen everything just kept happeningafter that — his bowel burst and hisstomach swelled up so much that itcut off his diaphragm and he hadthree cardiac arrests, one in whichhe didn’t function on any machine.He essentially died for 23 minutes.

“Then he had a brain haemor-rhage, he had surgeries on hisbowel, he had open heart surgery,he had laser eye surgery — he hadmillions of things.”

While this was happening Eimearwas across the city recovering, sodoctors hooked a camera over hisincubator so she could see him onan app on her phone.

Eimear was eventually able to joinEoin by Freddie’s incubator in ICU1, where the country’s sickest babiesare held. She said: “The first timethey tried to let me hold him, they

took him out of the incubator andhe was only 980g so he was the sizeof an iPhone. They put him onto mychest and they had to take out hislife-support tube because it gotblocked.”

She added: “But they were so goodand let us have a look to see whathe looked like.”

Doctors couldn’t tell if Freddiewould ever be OK, but Eimear saidthey just kept powering through.

She said: “He wasn’t responding toantibiotics at all so he was reallydodgy for a few weeks and the focuswas on that. This is what they usedto say, ‘Do I think Freddie’s going to

survive? It’s a 50 per cent chance. “‘Do I think he’ll have long-term

damage? It’s a 100 per cent chanceof long-term damage.’

“When you go through it you gothrough it, you don’t take heed ofactually everything that is happeningand it is stacking up and stackingup. You just switch on to robotmode and just get through it.

“But when you list it all out, it’sinsane what he went through.

“What made it harder was therewas seven other babies in the roomand you’d look around and all theother parents and mammies wereholding their children. Four of us had

AMAZING TALE OF COUNTRY’S TOUGHEST TODDLER

NEWBORNAt just 26 weeks

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Five-year-old Karacdied from a stomachvirus in 1977 while Plantwas on a band tour.

The 70-year-old rockfrontman said: “I’ve writ-ten four songs about myboy who passed away.

“It lets me cry. Youknow, with pain like that,it’s never gone.”

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1RM Monday, August 27, 2018 ............... 25

survive? It’s a 50 per cent chance. “‘Do I think he’ll have long-term

damage? It’s a 100 per cent chanceof long-term damage.’

“When you go through it you gothrough it, you don’t take heed ofactually everything that is happeningand it is stacking up and stackingup. You just switch on to robotmode and just get through it.

“But when you list it all out, it’sinsane what he went through.

“What made it harder was therewas seven other babies in the roomand you’d look around and all theother parents and mammies wereholding their children. Four of us had

quite a long journey together, westuck together, but there was a lot ofpeople that came and went.” ButFreddie faced even more hurdles.

Eimear explained: “Then he gotsepsis-blood poisoning and at thatstage the family were called again,and then they told us they had bro-ken his hip and they didn’t knowhow — it was a nightmare.”

Eimear and Eoin were soimpressed with Holles Street thatthey set up a fundraiser, Walk anHour for Premmie Power, to raisemoney for the hospital’s prematureunit. Teams took it in turn to walkan hour over a 24-hour period. At

last count they raised €47,779, whichhas helped fund a travel incubatorto bring sick babies between the twochildren’s hospitals. And Eimear saidthey owe everything to the doctorsand nurses there, as they are finallyhome with Freddie and looking tothe future.

Eimear said: “Because of the brainhaemorrhage they don’t know howhe will be development-wise, if hewill walk or talk. He’s in ‘earlyintervention’ and they give himphysio and speech and language.

“I only feel like a mother and weonly feel like parents in the last fouror five months. Because when you

can’t get to touch your child and youcan’t get to bond with your child atall you just stand at the side of theincubator and think is that yourbaby at all? He’s doing really well,he’s a bit behind, he won’t sit upand stand but he’ll do that all in hisown time.

“You have him in the wild chairand you put toys in front of himand he just looks at you and throwsthem on the ground and laughs. It’sgreat that he has a little personalityand he’s so alert. I don’t mind if he’sa little bold.”l TO donate to the family’s Prem-mie Power fundraiser visit justgiv-ing.com/fundraising/eimear-halpenny.

AMAZING TALE OF COUNTRY’S TOUGHEST TODDLERBoy, who was born at 26

weeks, suffered three heart attacks, lung and brain haemorrhages,

died for 23 minutes, had sepsis twice, laser eye surgery, necrotising

enterocolitis, a ruptured stomach wound after one of four bowel operations, 14 blood transfusions, a broken hip, numerous

respiratory arrests, cellulitis and a heart

operation

THRIVING ONE YEAR

OLDFreddie enjoying life out

of hospital with mum Eimear and dad Eoin

11 WEEKSPicture of Freddie taken on the same day that he

suffered two heart attacks

FREDDIE’SA TOT-AL

SURVIVOR

EXCLUSIVE by NICOLA BARDON

A TD who got volunteers torebuild an uninsured couple’shome after it was burnt tothe ground, told them: “We’llshow these f***ers in Dublinhow it’s done.”

A chimney fire at Jeremy andMelanie Zanni’s thatched cottagein Fartown, Glenamaddy, in CoGalway last month left themwithout a home.

But a team of locals led by TDMichael Fitzmaurice stepped in torebuild the couple’s pad from scratchin less than three weeks.

And French man Jeremy said: “It’s abeautiful story — it restored my faithin humanity big time.”

Jeremy told the Irish Sun: “It had athatch roof, which was 300-years-oldor more, and we had a chimney fireon the Friday night. The firemen didtheir jobs, the chimney was quenched.

“We left it at that, we went tobed, and in the morning when I gotup to go feed the chickens, I lookedat the roof, and there was smokecoming out of it and when I touchedinside, it was on fire in between theceiling and the roof.

“If it had happened two or threehours earlier, we would have been stillfast asleep, we could have died, wewere lucky.”

Local Roscommon-Galway Indepen-dent Deputy Fitzmaurice then madethem an incredible offer to sort outtheir sudden housing crisis.

Jeremy, dad to Finn, nine, said: “Itcould have been awful until Michaelstepped onside and turned it into abeautiful story. It was while the cot-tage was still burning and I was stillfirefighting so I didn’t even pay anynotice, it was surreal.

“But Michael stepped in and said,‘We’ll show those f***ers in Dublinhow it’s done. We’re going to rebuildyour house in no time, this is how wedo it in the West.’ It was surreal.”

Living a fairly simple life, Jeremycooks bread small-scale, while Melanieworks a few days in Galway.

And because of the traditionalthatch on the roof, the couple werepriced out of home insurance.

TD Michael had heard about thefire from a neighbour and got straightto work. He told us: “I drove upto the house that day and they weredistressed, as you would be, and Isaid to them, ‘We’ll put peopletogether that will put your life backtogether again.’”

Within hours, Michael hadrounded up locals to rebuild thehome from scratch.

He said: “We got local guyswho would be in the build-ing game and retired guysvoluntary and we went todifferent building suppliersand companies and wegot most of it sponsoredby people. We putin the raft threeweeks ago todayand the block layerscame and done itvoluntary and theroofers did it volun-tary and the plas-terers are the same.

“I have been upon the roof helpingthe guys and therehas been many anight where I’vegotten home and

walking alone and wereknifed without warning.

Police warned resi-dents to “stay vigilant”after the attacks, allwithin a quarter-of-a-mile radius in Edmon-ton, north London.

Officers said theybelieve the stabbings arenot terrorism-related.

They think theattacker is acting aloneand mental health issuesmay be a factor.

The first attack wason a 45-year-old womanin Aberdeen Road at7.02pm on Saturday.

She remained in acritical condition in hos-pital last night.

The second victim wasstabbed at 12.15am yes-terday in Park Avenueand remains in hospital.

However, his conditionis not believed to belife threatening.

A 23-year-old is in astable condition after

being knifed in SilverStreet at 3.55am beforestaggering to Seven Sis-ters Tube Station.

Then at 9.43am aman was stabbed inBrettenham Road andsuffered potentially life-changing injuries.

The knifeman wasdescribed as a tall,skinny, black man,wearing a hood anddark clothing.

Det Chief Insp StuartSmillie said: “The fourvictims are all from dif-ferent backgrounds andappear to have beenselected at random.”

Police yesterdayarrested two men onsuspicion of GBH, onein the street thenanother, in his 40s, at anearby residentialaddress. They saidinquiries are continuing.

By RACHEL DALE

Hunt for knife nut

HOODED MANIAC STABS 4 A HOODED knifeman stabbed fourpeople from behind in a 15-hour spreeof random street attacks.

One woman was fighting for life last nightand a man has been left with potentiallylife-changing injuries.

All four victims were believed to have been

Beautiful home ruined by chimney fireBLAZE HORROR

been up there for an hour or two. Theother night, I called up at 11 o’clockand the guys were just finishing.

“I’m organising all the differentbits and I’m not saying it’s thebiggest project in the world butit was great to see a local com-munity, what they’ve done forpeople. There’s a lot of talkabout rural Ireland and howthey deal with people fromdifferent nationalities, butthis will show you whatthese people have done ina local area to help peo-ple that were in distress.

“There’s no point in say-ing it — but if that wasn’t

done, I don’t know whatwould have happened because

they had nowhere to turn andtheir families are in France.”

He added: “Look, it’s not me, I

TD Fitzmaurice was up in digger to help out with brilliant building worksGETTING STUCK IN

Tradesmen and locals did an amazing jobCOTTAGE INDUSTRY

Melanie, Fergus Hegarty, Jeremy, TD Michael, Tommy Burke, Paddy Joyce,

Daithi Naughton and Finn Zanni

LOCALS UNITED

Jeremy thanks worker Tommy

BUILDINGSUPPORT

VILLAGERS TO RESCUEVILLAGERS TO RESCUE OF FAMILY HIT BY HOUSE FIRE OF FAMILY HIT BY HOUSE FIRE6 ............... Monday, April 1, 2019 1RM

They have rebuilt our home and restoredmy faith in humanity

might be organising it but these arepeople who have gone and given theirtime voluntary and the businesseswho have given their materialsvoluntary, it’s heartening to see whatcan be done in a few weeks whenpeople get involved.”

Michael said it shows HousingMinister Eoghan Murphy that homescan be built in a matter of weeks.

Michael said: “I don’t know why weare huffing and puffing about build-ing a lock of houses.

“If you go back on my Dail speechon housing, I don’t accept at all thiscraic — to build a house isn’t compli-cated. It’s what we make complicatedwith paperwork and bulls***.

“I built my own house 20 years agoin six weeks and it’s bigger than thisone. I believe if you put your teamtogether, coordinate it properly, line itup, where there’s a will there’s a

way.” He added: “We worked everyday, there was no such thing as a dayoff. I’m in Dublin a few days a week,but I was up in the digger myselfdigging it out when I was home.

“I done it one morning in the dig-ger before I went to Dublin for theDail. My young buck drove the diggerthere and I jumped up and gotinvolved. I am not one to go harpingon about it and not do it.

“The lads weren’t doing it for thepictures and the stories, they weredoing it to help.

“And I’ll tell you what it has done,it has shown a great comradeship inan area and a willingness to helppeople, which is great becausenowadays you get no one nearlytalking to each other and here youhad everyone helping.”

Delighted Jeremy, right with Mel-anie, said: “We lost our house and

people rallied together and stoppedin their tracks to help a neighbourin need like superheroes. And after-wards they will put their capes andtheir masks back in their pocketand go back to their normal farmingor building daily life, as if nothingever happened. I have said thanks a100 times and they look at the build-ing and say it’s grand, it’s mighty.

“It restored my faith in humanitybig time. It’s incredible. Five minuteson site and you understand how crazythe whole thing is.

“Something is looking out for us.I’m not religious or superstitious orspiritual but I’m starting to be afterwhat is happening, there is a higherforce at stake.”

And he said they are already plan-ning a bash when they get into thehouse in a few days. He said: “Thethank you party is going to be the

biggest party Fartown has ever seenbecause there are so many people tosay thank you to.

“All them tradesmen, a good thirdof them Michael brought out ofretirement, the roofer, the plas-terer is 75 years old and worksout of goodwill, and they workas if they are 20-years-old.

“And the craic on site, I’venever heard so many goodpuns and bad puns and jokes,you don’t want to be sensitiveor easily offended on sitebecause the craic is mighty.It’s all done in good humour.

“These are friends for life,we will never be able thankthem enough but the onlything we know they won’trefuse is a good feed and agood drinking session, this Iknow they will accept.”

Delighted family . . Melanie, Jeremy and son Finn with pic of cottage.

Top right, Jeremy and TD

VILLAGERS TO RESCUEVILLAGERS TO RESCUE OF FAMILY HIT BY HOUSE FIRE OF FAMILY HIT BY HOUSE FIRE

We aregoing to

rebuild your house inno time

1RM Monday, April 1, 2019 ............... 7