'Killeagh has a population of 500. To raise €750,000 in 12 months is phenomenal'
The Walsh family home was destroyed following the fire, and with a lapsed house insurance policy due to financial difficulties, the family is now homeless. Picture: Killeagh GAA Club
Ireland has garnered a reputation as being one of the world's most generous nations when it comes to donating to worthy causes.
For six straight years, this country has topped the donor league compiled by the online fundraising platform GoFundMe.
The has revisited some of the biggest GoFundMe campaigns from last year to see how the money is being spent, and the positive impact it is having.
A fundraiser for an East Cork family struck by a double tragedy has raised more than €500,000 following an “overwhelming” response from the local community.
The Walsh family of Killeagh, near Midleton, were devastated in April 2023 after a fire reduced their family home to ruins. Just over a week later, the family was struck by a second hammer blow, when father-of-five Brendan passed away tragically.
The following months saw both the locality and the wider GAA community rally around the family in spectacular fashion.
After the establishment of a GoFundMe, which made clear the esteem in which the Walsh family is held within the locality, more than 7,000 donors stepped forward to help contribute towards a fund aimed at rebuilding the family home.
“It was a double tragedy for the Walshes losing their home and their dad within 10 days. But from a community point of view the response was just overwhelming,” Denis O’Sullivan, vice chair of Killeagh GAA Club, for whom Brendan played with distinction and which organised the fundraiser, says.
Denis notes that the GAA “is supposed to be the biggest network in the world”. “So we sent the GoFundMe to every county board in the county. That saw it go to every county board in Ireland, and thus on to every club secretary, and then to every member. So you’re hitting a huge proportion of the population. But so many others contributed also,” he says.
The Walsh family’s misfortune was one of two tragedies to strike the local GAA community in just 12 months, with young player Rory Motherway suffering life-changing spinal injuries in a car crash in May 2024.
That tragedy also led to a GoFundMe fundraiser, one which saw an additional €250,000 sourced from kindhearted donors. “Within a very short time we’d raised a quarter of a million to refit the family home to get Rory home,” Denis O’Sullivan says.
“Killeagh has a population of 500 people. To raise €750,000 in 12 months from such a small community is phenomenal I think.”
He says that the tragedies which befell Killeagh, and the response locally and across Ireland in both cases, showcases the much-maligned world of social media “at its very best”.
“There is no way any organisation would have been able to raise those funds if it didn’t have those media tools available to it. Everyone was sharing the link,” Denis says.
Both the Walsh and Motherway GoFundMes have now shut.
Construction work on the rebuild of the Walsh’s home has begun within the last few weeks, meanwhile, with Denis O’Sullivan acting as intermediary between the GAA club and the family in terms of disbursing the funds raised.
“The rebuild has been a learning process for all concerned, as you have to go for planning all over again,” he says.
“You have to go for demolition first, and then for a brand new application.”
“We hope the funds will be sufficient, the costs of building have obviously increased dramatically in recent years, but not only did we receive contributions of money, but also there were pledges from companies in terms of the materials needed. So hopefully we will get there,” he says.
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