MUM-of-six Dolores McNamara was on a night out with friends back on July 30 2005 when she realised her life had changed forever.
The Limerick native had just become Ireland’s first EuroMillions winner, nabbing a €115million prize.
And Ireland’s newest millionaire has catapulted themselves straight to the top of our exclusive Lotto hall of fame with our biggest ever prize.
The country is rife with speculation over who’s bagged themselves a cool €250million, with Lotto bosses confirming the golden ticket was sold in Munster.
The punter joins a long line of mega Irish prizewinners, with mega Irish EuroMillions wins recorded in 2005 and 2019.
Dolores McNamara became the most famous of those Irish winners when she collected a cheque for an eye-watering €115,436,126 from National Lottery headquarters on August 4, 2005.
Just days earlier, she’d been out with pals at the Track Bar in Garryowen, five minutes outside Limerick city.
The part-time cleaner, along with her bricklayer husband Adrian, had raised six children in a modest semi-detached home on the Patrick’s Road in Limerick.
Dolores and her friends copped the EuroMillions draw was playing out on the TV in the bar, and after the numbers were pulled, Dolores asked a pal to check her ticket.
Her €2 QuickPick buy had just netted her €115million.
Dolores burst into tears, realising she had just become a multi-millionaire and landed what was at the time the largest-winning Lotto sum in Europe.
A friend of Dolores’ pulled out a camera during the whirlwind celebrations and snapped some famous snaps of her just as she became a millionaire.
Bar staff working in the pub that night detailed exactly how the celebrations got underway.
One said: “The drink started flowing and the champagne was poured and we had a great night celebrating.
“Dolores is a real nice woman and none of her friends believe this will change her drastically.”
Dolores caused a frenzy when she arrived at the Lotto headquarters to collect her winnings just before the August bank holiday that year.
Like a celebrity, the Limerick mother made her way through a sea of reporters and photographers to get inside the building to start her new life.
Dressed in a classy white ensemble and wearing the same heart-shaped necklace she wore on the night she won, Dolores made her way to the door with a smile on her face.
She didn’t address the crowds dying to get a look at Ireland’s big winner and instead her lawyer shared a message.
The lawyer said: “She is absolutely determined that her feet and the feet of her family, will remain firmly on the ground.”
FIRST BIG PURCHASE
Six months after the monumental win, Dolores purchased a mansion in the Limerick countryside.
The €1.7million buy sat on 38 acres outside the scenic waterfront village of Killaloe, just mere miles from her own home.
After buying the property, Dolores bought additional houses nearby for her six children.
Later in 2012, the family bought Tinarana House for over €3million and her son recently obtained planning permission for this site.
Dolores’ husband Adrian invested in racehorse Carraig na gCapall before he passed away in 2021.
ONLY PUBLIC INTERVIEW
Despite making headlines across the country in 2005, Dolores has kept a low profile out of the public eye.
She has only spoken publicly about her win once – to local newspaper The Limerick Leader.
She told them: “The question that has been asked of me most frequently was how I felt about my win and my answer is still the same. I feel disbelief and shock.
“Buying a ticket for that Euro jackpot was a spur of the moment decision.
“I’d actually gone into the shop to buy a top-up for my phone and just asked the lady for a Lotto ticket.”
DARK SIDE OF THE WIN
Despite winning such an incredible amount the family, including Dolores’ children Dawn, Gary, Kim, Kevanne, Dean, and Lee, were subject to multiple security threats after winning such a large sum of money so publicly.
Dolores was also required to keep 24/7 security measures in place at her mansion.
ALL IRELAND’S EUROMILLIONS WINNERS
HERE’s Ireland’s big EuroMillions winners since the game started in 2005.
1. July 2005: Dolores McNamara from Limerick, was Ireland’s first and biggest EuroMillions winner scooping over €115 million.
2. July 2008: A lucky player from Co. Tipperary won a €15 million jackpot with a ticket bought in Carrick-on-Suir in Co. Tipperary.
3. June 2009: A family syndicate shared the jackpot with a British winner, taking homeover €29.4 million with a ticket they purchased in Dublin.
4. June 2013: A winning ticket sold in Beaumount, Dublin, shared a EuroMillions jackpot worth over €187 million. A Dublin player earned half of the jackpot and picked up over €93 million.
5. September 2013: A young man from the South East shared a jackpot of over €25 million with a player in Spain, taking home over €12.8 million.
6. April 2014: A jackpot prize worth €15 million was claimed on a ticket sold in Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
7. September 2014: An €86.7 million jackpot was won by a syndicate from Dublin. The ticket was sold in Centra, Ballybrack, Co. Dublin.
8. January 2016: A syndicate of friends won over €66 million, splitting the jackpot of €132,376,632. The ticket was sold in Eason’s store, Fairgreen Shopping Centre, Carlow.
9. July 2016: 22 colleagues from Dublin Bus won the €23.8 million. The ticket was sold in O’Hanlon’s Portarlington.
10. January 2017: A Dublin work syndicate claimed the €88.5 million EuroMillions jackpot. The winning ticket was sold at the Applegreen Service Station on the M1 Northbound in Lusk, Co. Dublin.
11. July 2017: A syndicate from the West of Ireland won a €29 million EuroMillions jackpot. The ticket was sold in Garryduff XL Store on Pound Road, Castlebar in Co. Mayo.
12. December 2017: A small family syndicate from Dublin won €38.9 million on a ticket purchased in The Village Shop in Malahide Shopping Centre
13. June 2018: 32 colleagues from Stakelums Hardware store in Thurles Co. Tipperary share a €17 million EuroMillions jackpot with a ticket they purchased at Eason’s Store in Thurles Shopping Centre in Co. Tipperary.
14. February 2019: The Naul Family Syndicate won €175.4 million on a ticket sold in Reilly’s Daybreak in Naul, Co. Dublin.
15. February 2020: A Co. Mayo family shared the €17 million jackpot with a ticket they purchased at Mulroy’s Londis Store in Castlebar.
16. July 2020: An online player in Dublin won a €49.5 million jackpot which they won with a €2.50 normal play ticket.
17. February 2022: Mid-West ticket holder scoops €30.9 million jackpot with Quick Pick ticket they purchased at Larkin’s Gala Service Station in Ballina, Co. Tipperary.
A mysterious family syndicate from north Dublin claimed a whopping €175.4million in the EuroMillions draw on Tuesday February 19, 2019.
The Naul syndicate as they became known, made up of nine siblings, broke records to become Ireland’s biggest winners at the time.
The majority of the family remained anonymous after the record-breaking win, but Kathleen Sheridan told us: “We’re still in shock, we just can’t believe it.”
Kathleen’s daughter Emma added: “They’re going to share it between everyone…that’s what they’re like, a real tight-knit family.
“They meet in their house every Sunday and it’s only in the last few weeks they’ve started playing the EuroMillions, because two of their brothers died quite close together last year, so they do that every Sunday.”
Multimillionaire Kathleen and her sister Christine Rogers joined their jackpot-sharing siblings for a family lunch on the week of their win, celebrating their loot with a €12.50 carvery.
The EuroMillions winners first held an hour-long meeting at the Bracken Court Hotel in Balbriggan, north Co Dublin, as they discussed their financial bonanza.
The family went on to claim their prize privately, with syndicate spokesperson Gerry Brown saying the family were “thrilled” and now looking forward to getting on with their lives.
He said: “This is life-changing for all of the family and we are absolutely thrilled.
“We have spent the last week getting independent legal and financial advice, and our win is slowly sinking in.
“We are a very close family and this is a dream come true for us. We want this win to change our lives in a positive way.”
The ticket was sold in Reilly’s Daybreak in Naul and shop owner Les Reilly was “over the moon” at the time of the win, having landed a €25,000 bonus himself for selling the lucky slip.
He said: “I’m over the moon, it will put the place on the map. We will have a shindig.”
