Maureen’s lasting legacy reaps rich reward
The €9.6 million bequest by Maureen O’Connell to the St Vincent De Paul (SVP) has all been spent, with 95 projects in Galway receiving donations over the last thirteen years due to the publican’s largesse.
The fund is now being wound up by a committee established to manage it separately from public donations to the charity. They were guided by the will’s instructions that the money was “for the general objectives and purposes of the Society in Galway City and County”.
The largest share of the fund went to upgrading the charity’s social housing stock on Mill Street and Merchant’s Road in the city as well as a €1m conversion of their building on Mill Street into the Croi na Gaillimhe Resource Centre, which has been renamed Maureen O’Connell House in honour of her generosity.
The centre was originally used to deliver services for older people but it evolved to deliver programmes for young people, families and asylum seekers. In 2014 volunteers opened a homework club for children living in direct provision at the Eglinton hostel in Salthill.
Direct assistance was given to over 3,000 households and 8,500 participants through family and community programmes.
Ms O’Connell, who was unmarried and without children, could never have imagined that her landmark pub on Eyre Square would have created such a legacy when she died in 1998.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.