Road paved with luck for €16m family

IRELAND’S newest Lotto millionaires got a new road laid outside their house yesterday.

Council workers were busy resurfacing the road which leads into the Bride Valley View estate on Cork’s northside where an entire community was still celebrating the Cunningham family’s €16 million Lotto jackpot win.

Not that the fresh layer of tar will make much difference to Helen or Paul Cunningham; neither drive, neighbours said.

Their daughter, Amy, usually drives them where they want to go in her 00-registered Rover. But all that will probably change.

The parents of five who won Saturday’s biggest ever Lotto jackpot could afford a few driving lessons, or a few new cars, and test out the new road surface in the days ahead.

They might even buy Amy a new car, locals joked.

And if reports that the family has only holidayed together once in the last 10 years are to be believed, they might also book a foreign trip to take stock of their win.

Neighbours were basking in the morning sunshine yesterday as Paul and Helen played a game of cat-and-mouse with the media.

Rumours ripped through the estate in the early morning that Paul and Helen had left their modest semi-detached house for Dublin to collect their winnings.

But Paul was spotted back at the home by mid-afternoon before leaving again around 3pm.

Their children, Sarah, 15, who just completed her Junior Cert in North Presentation secondary school; Amy, who is in her early 20s; Stephen and Paul, in their mid 20s and who are rising stars with Na Piarsaigh hurling club; and Shane, 25, who has special needs, also came and went from the house at various stages.

The window blinds were drawn and a relative was screening callers to the door. The house phone was not answered.

Amy went for a spin in her car around noon but did not talk to reporters.

Neighbour Rosarie O’Callaghan said the shock of the Lotto win was still sinking in around the area.

“They are a lovely, quiet family. Helen has reared all her children and she deserves to win,” she said.

Originally from Spriggs Road in Gurranabraher, Rosarie said Helen was the best neighbour you could ask for.

Paul’s mother, Mai, still lives in the historic Maddens Buildings in Blackpool.

Friends described him as a “very decent, sound and level-headed man”.

“He comes from a very well-respected and well-liked family who’ve lived here for years,” one said.

Barry Twomey, who runs the Centra shop in Farranree where the winning 4 quick-pick ticket was bought on Friday, said the buzz in the area was still fantastic.

As he stood outside his shop yesterday, locals streamed in to his store “looking for a rub of luck”.

“Do you get that rich feeling,” one elderly lady quipped as she stepped inside the door.

“They’re all looking for rubs off the staff,” Barry joked.

And for anyone interested, it was shop assistant Niamh Goulding who probably sold the winning ticket.

But she’s not due back on duty until Wednesday — just hours before the Lotto’s midweek draw.