Kerry storyteller raises €9k in a few days after being refused loan to buy mobile home

Seanachie 'amazed and humbled' after success of GoFundMe page

Sean O'Laoghaire, from Portmagee in Co Kerry, raised more than €9,000. Picture: Alan Landers

A storyteller was forced to set up a GoFundMe page after he says a bank turned him down for a loan to buy a mobile home.

Within just a few days, Seanachie Sean O’Laoghaire had raised more than double the €4,200 he was looking for.

As of 1.30pm Thursday, the former Ireland's Got Talent contestant had raised €9,000 from 219 donors. He published the page on December 6.

The money is to help build a concrete foundation and connect running water and electricity to the mobile home in Portmagee, Co Kerry.

The move is needed as he is selling the family home he moved into four years ago from Castletownbere, Co Cork.

“The house has a buyer,” Cork-born Sean, who also has around 20 goats, said. “But they need me to be out of it. And for that to happen, I need somewhere to go.

“I have a small farm opposite the house and that is where I am going to put my new mobile home. 

"I asked a bank for the loan to buy the mobile home but they turned me down.

So that left me with a catch 22, and then a friend suggested I set up the GoFundMe page

He added: “I have been amazed at how well it has done.

I am both proud and humbled by people’s response.

“I am so thankful for what people have done. I wouldn’t have a lot of money and the response has shown me the universe is a truly wonderful place.”

The 50-year-old believes a big part of his success in raising the money with little or no effort or advertising is a loyal following he has gained during lockdown.

With more than 30 years of storytelling and teaching art under his belt, he turned to Facebook and made a series of videos about his life and his goats.

One of his videos, a simple uplifting thought for the day-style mobile phone video called Isn’t it Great, has been viewed more than 2,300 times and liked by 224 people.

Others made of his goats have also been viewed by hundreds. One called The Cuckoo, has had 1,100 views.

His goats, a number of which are British Alpines, have names like Margo, Honey, and Sooty. Three sisters are called the Sisters of Babylon and they have all become mini social media stars in their own right, he says.

Although the two-bed 65-year-old farmhouse is about to sell, and the mobile home is bought, he now has to start the planning process.

He needs to build a septic tank, a concrete base and install basic amenities — something missing from his current house, which he shares with his Greengrass Lurcher puppy Grámhar.

“It has no electricity and I get water from the yard,” he said. “At the moment, I keep myself warm with an open fire in the bedroom.

I have two open fires to keep me warm.

On his GoFundMe page, he told well-wishers: "This so fantastic, a huge thank you to every last one of you. It will get water and electricity and maybe even and septic tank in place.

"I’m not sure how to finish the campaign, but it’s the start of a great journey."