How to spend €8.6 million was the talk of Kilkenny yesterday following the announcement by the National Lottery that the winning ticket in the midweek Lotto draw had been bought in the city. However no one has yet come forward to claim the prize.
The winning €4 "quick pick" ticket was bought at a busy Statoil service station on the Castlecomer Road on the outskirts of Kilkenny city. It is the largest prize won by a single ticket since the lottery began.
Mayor of Kilkenny Martin Brett said he hoped the winner "would use it wisely and enjoy it". Mr Brett, who is also an agent for New Ireland Assurance, offered to provide "free financial advice" should the winner come forward and recommended investing two-thirds of the money in "secure bonds".
The service station's assistant manager, Helen Connelly, said the winner "could have come from anywhere". The garage is close to the Newpark Hotel and is used by local residents and motorists coming to and from towns such as Castlecomer, Durrow, Portlaoise and Athy.
Some 17 staff are expected to share the €15,000 seller's bonus and have also been promised "a night out and a meal" by the company.
Customers at the Statoil garage yesterday exchanged thoughts about what they would do if they had won.
Ann Langton from Kilkenny "would drop dead with the fright" as she had "never won anything except a poster of Finn McCool in a library competition" at the age of 10. But she would "love a new house and new car and a world cruise".
Kieran Kelly from Muckalee would "go to South America and open a yak farm", while Séamus Hockney, a builder from Kilkenny, "would go to Mexico" and "buy a block of apartments".
Plumber Tom O'Leary from Stoneyford said he would "take a holiday in America".