Barney Curley honoured for his charity work

The man who put Castletown Geoghegan on the international map when he raffled his "Middleton Park" mansion there, was named as recipient of a special award last week for his charity work

Barney Curley, who has raised millions of euro for schools and hospitals in Africa, received the award from the Ceann Comhairle, Sean Barrett, in a ceremony on Thursday 3 December in Leinster House, Dublin.

At a reception hosted by Senator Rónán Mullen, Bishop Michael Smith paid tribute to Mr Curley for his work, which he carries out with Irish missionaries and religious in Zambia.

The former owner of Middleton House, Castletown-Geoghegan co-founded the charity 'Direct Aid for Africa’ in 1997 after the death of his son Charlie in a car crash.

Mr Curley and DAFA were proposed for the award by Senator Rónán Mullen. Mr Curley said: “It shouldn’t really be me receiving this award but all those people out there – the nuns and priests and all the workers. But if the award gets DAFA known by more people, that can only be good."