The two Irish winners of last Friday's €183 EuroMillions draw, which has been shared among 20 winners, are expected to claim their €9.6 million prize at the National Lottery's head office in Dublin in the coming days.
However, a spokeswoman for the lottery, whose offices open at 9am today, said it had not been contacted by the winners over the weekend, and stressed that they have 90 days in which to claim their prize. As the sums involved form part of a Europe-wide draw, their winnings might not be transferred to the head office for collection until tomorrow or Wednesday.
One of the winners is understood to be Tom Flynn, a married plumber and father of three in his late 50s, who is believed to have left his home at Wood Road, Foynes, Co Limerick yesterday to escape the publicity. The €10 winning "quickpick" ticket was sold on Thursday in Kelly's Costcutters store, Main Street, Foynes.
The identity of the second winner had not emerged last night, despite intense speculation in Millstreet, Co Cork, where the €4 "quickpick" ticket was bought at Coleman's filling station, Minor Row on Friday.
Limerick woman Dolores McNamara, who won €115 million in the EuroMillions lottery last year, waited three days to claim her winnings.
As there were no winners of Saturday's overall jackpot of €183,109,056, the prize has been divided between 20 individuals who have tickets containing numbers relating to the next prize level - five matches plus one lucky star. Each wins €9,562,399. There were seven winners in the UK, four in France, three in Spain, three in Portugal and one in Belgium.
The lottery spokeswoman said the bonus to be awarded to the two agents who sold the winning tickets would be calculated later this week. Ordinarily, they receive €25,000 for selling a jackpot ticket, but as the tickets in questions were not jackpots, this amount may differ.