Unemployed lottery winner gives away winnings

Margaret Loughrey.

An unemployed lottery winner is giving away the majority of her winnings.

Margaret Loughrey, from Northern Ireland, won £27 million, but she is planning on keeping only £1 million for herself.

Ms Loughrey, 48, who was unemployed when she won the EuroMillions jackpot in December, claims that she has already given away £13.5 million.

In an interview, she said that she will use the other £12.5m of her lucky dip winnings for investment in her hometown of Strabane.

The generous winner wants to use the money to create jobs and provide amenities for local people.

“As soon as I won the money I said it would go for the good of the town,” she said.

“I’ve already given half of it away.

“I always said one for me, and the rest for the town.”

She was interviewed shortly after her plans to purchase Strabane’s vacant 22 acre business park site were refused by Invest NI.

She was hoping to create up to 80 jobs at the site which has been lying empty for months by creating a craft village — but the business development agency said her plans did not match their criteria.

The Invest NI North Western Regional Manager, Des Gartland, said that the agency had met three times with Margaret to discuss the purchase. However, they refused as they needed a business focused on export growth.

She has already purchased the historic Herdman’s Mill in Sion Mills wchich is just outside her hometown of  Strabane for £1 million. She is planning to transform the 62-acre complex on the banks of the River Mourne into a leisure and tourism destination.

Her plans include creating a museum that displays the North West’s industrial heritage as well as football pitches and a bowling alley for local people to use.

Her plans for the Invest NI site on Melmount Road would have seen 30 or 40 units built there to allow crafters to do woodwork, metalwork, painting and knitting, with their wares being sold to visitors.

She says she is disappointed with Invest NI’s decision, however, this won’t stop her re-branding Strabane into a tourist hub.

“I don’t really need Invest NI, I can buy somewhere else – but I wanted to give them a boost,” she said.

“I know what it’s like to have nothing,” she said. “That’s why I’m giving it away — I can’t miss what I never had.”