Quarrymen strike Lotto gold

The 16 members of the syndicate who won the biggest prize in the National Lottery came to collect their winnings in Dublin this afternoon.

All 16, with their wives and friends, arrived by coach at National Lottery headquarters in Lower Abbey Street to receive the cheque for €18,963,441, which amounts to almost €1.2 million each.

The 16, Benny Doyle, Thomas Kearns and his daughter Audrey, Sean Gahan, Ken Treacy, John Doyle and his son Aaron Doyle, Robert Lewis, Tony Egan, Patrick Comerford, brothers Michael and Brendan Morrissey, Patrick Kearns and his daughter Audrey, Thomas Cassidy, Joseph Fennelly and Liam O'Neil all work for the Dan Morrissey Company in Bennekerry Carlow.

They bought their ticket in Hickson's supermarket on the Staplestown Road in Carlow last Wednesday.

The syndicate leader Robert 'Louis' Lewis recalled how he couldn't believe how he had won the ticket when he checked the numbers on Saturday evening and admitted that he did scale in the fence to get into work to recover the ticket.

Patrick Kearns recalled how he was out driving when he got the call from Robert who told him that he had won the lottery. "My knees were knocking the whole way home. It's a good job the RSA (Road Safety Authority) weren't looking at me".

John Doyle, whose son Aaron (22) was the youngest syndicate member, said: "I was home sitting on the couch and Louis rang me and I couldn't believe it. I nearly fainted. He said check those numbers and then I saw just one winner and I fell over."

Ken Treacy, the only Kilkenny man in the syndicate, said he would use his winnings to look after his wife who is sick. "My first priority is to get her well," he said to applause.

Along with the one overall winner, there was one Lotto plus winner who won €350,000, another who won €250,000 and 15 who won around €25,000 each.

The National Lottery estimates that since the roll-over began, the National Lottery has raised €25 million for various causes.