The winners of the £115million EuroMillions jackpot are Frances and Patrick Connolly from Moira, Co Armagh.
The couple matched the winning numbers in the New Year’s Day draw.
It is the fourth biggest UK EuroMillions win.
The lucky pair’s identities were revealed at a press conference just outside Belfast on Friday.
Frances explains: “This is a massive sum of money and we want it to have a huge impact on the lives of other people we know and love as well as on our future too. This win gives us the chance to really make a difference for our family and friends.”
The lucky couple live in a rented home in Moira and have three grown-up daughters and three grandkids.
#Euromillions winners say their £115m win is “unreal” and “overwhelming”. Patrick & Francis Connolly are from Moira in Co Armagh. @BBCNewsNI @BBCNews pic.twitter.com/x69wK3Pc2V
— Declan Harvey (@NewsDeclan) January 4, 2019
Julie Flaherty, Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme that the news had caused huge excitement in the area.
“It’s amazing news for this couple. We always knew we were lucky to live in the Orchard County and now it’s been proven! It gives everybody a wee bit of hope,” she said.
“Hopefully they’re a good, grounded family with plenty of people around to support them and they’ll be able to do some good with it.”
Northern Ireland has a history of big wins.
In December 2013, an unemployed woman from Strabane, won almost £27m in the EuroMillions lottery.
At the time, Margaret Loughrey said that on the day she bought the ticket, she had been to the job market to get an application form for a job with a charity.
In 2004, a cancer patient from Belfast became the biggest ever winner of the UK’s National Lottery.
Iris Jeffrey scooped £20.1m with a ticket she bought on 14 July but only realised she had hit the jackpot the following month after hearing an appeal by lottery organisers Camelot.
More to follow..
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