Over €108,000 presented to Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association in honour of Paddy Fenning

Members of the Paddy Fenning Walk fundraising committee met to present a sizable cheque to the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association (IMNDA) this week.

The walk which was held last September after several delays due to the pandemic, raised over €160,000 for the IMNDA and local homeless causes, exceeding the target of €150,000 that Paddy had in mind when he set up the initiative following his diagnosis with MND in 2019.

Paddy was a two-time All-Ireland Championship winner with the Offaly senior football team. He was named Offaly Person of the Year in 2011 in recognition of his management of various projects, among them helping erase the debt on Tullamore’s GAA social centre; raising €200,000 to purchase a CT scanner for the local hospital.

A third each of the total raised was to go to both support services for MND sufferers and research around developing a cure for the condition, as set out by Paddy prior to his passing in May 2020, with the remaining third designated to local homeless causes via St Vincent de Paul.

Committee chairman Joe Stewart, said: “It’s wonderful to be in a position to hand over such a large sum to the IMNDA, which receives no state funding towards the invaluable work that it carries out.

“The pandemic meant that fundraising activity went on a lot longer than anybody would have anticipated but when the walk finally came around last September it proved to be a great success and I’d like to thank all that helped in that regard, particularly the local media, all in Tullamore GAA, Offaly GAA, Paddy’s teammates from the 1971 All-Ireland winning team, the Tullamore Court and Bridge House Hotels, Tullamore Harriers, Waterways Ireland and many local businesses and individuals too various to mention who helped us in so many ways.

“All who contributed ensured that we honoured a great man’s legacy in the best possible way.”