A Cork family took some time out from their Christmas shopping to visit the National Lottery in Dublin to pick up their €500,000 EuroMillions Plus jackpot today.
The mother of the winning Cork clan explained the madness which engulfed their home on the morning after the draw on Tuesday, December 10, when they checked their ticket.
She said: “It was a typical morning in our house, everybody was getting ready for work and rushing out the door.
"Everybody except my husband who was in no rush whatsoever and he was at the kitchen table looking at his lottery ticket with his mouth wide open. He was a sight to behold.
"He goes to me, ‘I think we’ve won the EuroMillions.’ I probably thought we had won a few thousand euro or something and I asked him if we’d won enough so that I could give up work and stay at home altogether.
Once we’d double- and triple-checked the ticket, we were dancing around the kitchen with pure joy.
"The difficult part was composing ourselves and heading to work for the day and not being able to tell any of our friends or colleagues that we had just won €500,000.”
This latest EuroMillions Plus win is the 32nd top prize win of €500,000 in Ireland this year and beats the previous record set in 2017.
The family, who wish to keep their win private, bought the winning ticket at the Amber Service Station in Fermoy, Co. Cork, on the day of the draw.
After taking a week to let their win sink in, they told how they have taken some time out to make some long-lasting plans for their cash.
The family's mother said: “Obviously, we are going to pay off our mortgage in full which is a big weight off our shoulders. Knowing that whatever we earn at the end of each month is ours to do as we wish is a great feeling of freedom.
"We’re going to take a small few bob out of the pot for Christmas so we can enjoy it with the family.
"We won’t be going on a mad spending spree or anything but we intend to enjoy the celebrations over the next couple of weeks.”
