Sarah Slater
More than €23,000 has been raised to help bring the body of a Carlow man home following an accident in Spain.
Michael Meaney, from Rathvinden, Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, died in an accident on Monday last week.
Mr Meaney moved to Spain last July where had begun working as an independent contractor.
A GoFundMe page called Bring Mike Home was set up over the weekend and within two days has raised more than €23,000 some €7,000 more than the target of €16,000.
The excess raised is to be divided between charities that were close to the Leighlinbridge man, including The Vault which is a youth project based in Carlow.
A fundraising spokesperson said: “We reached our goal thank you. If you would like to keep donating all excess will go to charity’s close to Mike’s heart.
“Our loving friend Mike was involved in a tragic accident in Spain. Us friends (were) trying our best to bring Mike home. As Mike’s friends we wanted to take this pressure off of the family.
“Mike went to Spain in July this year to start a new chapter in his life, he was doing so well and became an independent contractor, he was living his best life and having a great time. On September 13th, Mike tragically passed in an accident.”
The spokesperson added: “All excess donations will go towards the Kevin Bell Foundation and to The Vault in Carlow, which was a place Mike loved dearly.”
Mr Meaney is survived by his parents Elaine and Des, his uncles Gerry, Thos, Joe, Brendan and Danny, aunts Gaye and Mairead, uncles-in-law, aunts-in-law, cousins, relatives, kind neighbours and Mike’s many friends.
Leighlinbridge based Councillor Michael Doran said:“There’s a sense of widespread shock and sadness here in Leighlin and the wider community on hearing of the death of a young man from our village here.
“He was the member of a popular and well-respected family and on behalf of our community we’d like to offer our thoughts and prayers to them at this sad and difficult time”.
