IRELAND's latest Lotto millionaire is considering his options. The winner of the largest individual jackpot muses about taking up Formula One racing, or buying a Ferrari like the one in the Lotto advertisement and a matching Williams trailer for drawing bales.
Whatever he decides, there are many ways to spend £6,216,048. And he has many people to spend it with. The winner is 10 years married, from West Cork, has a young family and "works on the land". In his late 30s, he comes from a large family and has brothers and sisters also living in West Cork.
The millionaire, who wants his identity to remain private, collected his money yesterday morning, five days after last Wednesday's draw.
Accompanied by a family member, he told National Lottery officials that he plans to "invest the money, look after all my family and take it easy from now on. It won't change my life but I'm going to get things I couldn't get up to now maybe even a runway for a private jet!"
He quipped: "I will continue to play Lotto - sure you never know when you might need a top up."
Explaining how he won he said: "I was in town that morning and bought my £1 Quickpick, which was as much as I could afford.
"I've been playing Quickpick for a good while now because my own numbers weren't coming up. This is the first time I've ever won money in my life - I wouldn't say I'm a lucky man at all.
"I was watching the draw in my mother's house on Wednesday night when out the numbers came. I thought I had five but when my mother checked she said, `You have six - you've won.'"
"I didn't go mad or anything. I couldn't phone the wife because we don't have a telephone, so I went out and dosed one of the cows and went home at about 1 a.m. When I got in my wife asked what kept me, and I said that one of the cows was in a bit of bother. `Oh, and the way, I had the six numbers in the Lotto.'
"We didn't get a wink of sleep that night, up and down making tea and talking and what have you."