A Mayo mother has promised to help her children put deposits down on new homes after claiming €500,000 in the Lotto.
The close-knit family celebrated at Lotto HQ on Friday after hitting the jackpot in the Daily Million Plus draw.
And the delighted mum now plans to pay off the family's mortgage before dividing the money up between her children.
She said: "We are an incredibly tight-knit family so this win is going to change all of our lives.
Lucky Mayo punter scoops staggering €500,000 in Lotto draw
"We have some bills to pay and we’ll be getting rid of our mortgage of course but after that, we want to do some home improvements and the rest of the money will be divided between our children.
"They are making their own way in life at the moment so it will help them to get deposits for their own houses in the very near future I hope."
The winning Quick Pick ticket for the draw on March 14 was sold at Caulfield’s store on Main Street in Ballyhaunis.
National Lottery chiefs reveal shop which sold €500,000 EuroMillions Plus ticket
She told how they only found out about the win after one of her adult children sent her a Facebook link saying the winning ticket was sold locally.
She added: "We only found out about the half million euro win in the town when our adult children sent us a link on Facebook and I think they were very optimistically hoping we had landed the massive prize!
"You see it all of the time, you see these truly life-changing wins on Facebook and you longingly wish it’s you. Little did we all know that we had the winning ticket all along!"
