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Home for Home
Dragon's Den businessman sells home, raises €273,000 for homeless charities
The money raised will go to COPE Galway and Focus Ireland to help house families in Galway.
DRAGON’S DEN BUSINESSMAN Barry O’Sullivan has raised €273,000 for homeless charities in Galway by selling his home on the Aran Islands.
Along with Focus Ireland and COPE Galway, O’Sullivan announced he was selling the house on Inis Mór late last month. The initiative formed part of the charities’ “Home from Home” campaign.
The house was sold at O’Donnellan and Joyce Auctioneer’s Christmas Auction yesterday.
COPE Galway CEO Jacquie Horan said: “Every €20,000 of the proceeds will be used as leverage to buy another home.
On one night in Galway (November 21st), there were 35 families, with 93 children living in emergency accommodation so this is a wonderful opportunity to provide badly needed housing for these families.
The six bed property has views of Kilmurvey beach and the wild Atlantic on Inis Mór.
It had a guide of price of €300,000, but fell slightly short of this mark at the auction yesterday.
Focus Ireland is the leading homeless organisation working with families in Dublin, while COPE Galway works with homeless families and individuals in Galway.
Family homelessness is at record levels with over 1,200 families and 2,400 children facing Christmas in emergency homeless accommodation this year.
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