Tullamore man announced on Late Late Show as one of Axa Community Hero winners

James O’Connor from Tullamore has been named as one of only five winners of the AXA Community Hero awards 2020.

James was announced as one of the winners by Ryan Tubridy on tonight’s Late Late Show on RTE. James was selected for his extraordinary work in setting up Accessible Counselling Tullamore (ACT) which provides accessible counselling services for the benefit of adults in the midlands.

James felt his world had ended after his little girl died. He bottled things up and eventually had a serious breakdown and attempted suicide. He battled through his struggles with mental health but over the years he learned how to deal with this tragedy. He has now come to value the role of counselling in helping people to recover.

James has become the go-to person in the community for people seeking help for family members suffering from mental health issues. While he is a deeply private man, he regularly gives talks to adolescents in an effort to reduce the stigma around mental health. James has become an ambassador for See Change and uses his own story to challenge the stigma around mental health.

Each of the five winners in this national awards scheme has nominated a charity which will receive €20,000 from AXA. James has selected ACT who will use the proceeds to develop their work programme.

AXA will also present James with a personal award of €5,000 to mark his achievement. Originally it was only intended to select one winner in this national competition but in response to over 1,000 nominations which poured in during the Summer, AXA increased the number of winners to 5 and increased the total prize fund from €25,000 to €125,000.

The AXA Community Hero awards was set up to recognize individuals who supported their friends, colleagues and neighbours during recent difficult months. AXA is Ireland’s largest insurance company and has previously run campaigns to celebrate Farm Heroes and to support workers returning to work in the Irish health services during the Covid 19 crisis.

Antoinette McDonald, Director at AXA said: “James suffered a devastating tragedy with the death of his daughter, but he has used that awful experience to set up ACT as a specialist counselling services for adults in the midlands to help other people cope with their own tragedies. His story is one of remarkable selfishness and kindness and we are delighted to honor him with this award and to support this great charity.”

The competition was open to residents of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and all nominees had to be aged 18 years or over at the date of entry.

The five AXA Community Heroes selected from over 1,000 names submitted are:

Eric Beggs, Louth

Eric raised €150,000 for Irish charity Fighting Blindness

Selected charity: Fighting Blindness

Oliver Lynch, Cork

Oliver who is just 8 years of age suffers from Cerebral Palsy but still raised over €30,000 for 3 Cork Charities by walking 5 kms in 50 days.

Selected charities: Enable Ireland, Dogs for the Disabled, CUH Charity.

Gary Rutherford, Derry

After overcoming his addiction, Gary has set up Addiction Recovery Coaching to help other recovering addicts.

Selected charity: The Bogside & Brandywell Health Forum

Geraldine Molloy, Dublin

Exceptional work volunteering with Inner City Helping Homeless; working 12 hour days leading a team on food distribution while also doing outreach herself and supporting clients with advocacy and mental health supports.

Selected charity: Inner City Helping Homeless