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“WE FELT THERE had to be something for him. We were just so frustrated that he was having such a difficult time.”
Four years ago, 19-year-old Tipperary native Sean O’Neill received a life-changing diagnosis, which saw the end to his sporting life as he knew it – but at the end of this month, he’ll get the opportunity to head off on a dream golf trip to the US.
Following a routine school screening, and a follow-up trip to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin, it was discovered that O’Neill has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).
HCM occurs if the heart muscle cells enlarge and cause the walls of the ventricles to thicken.
At the time, O’Neill was an active hurler and a competitive cyclist. His diagnosis saw an end to these hobbies.
“It was a huge shock. It was huge and it still is,” O’Neill’s mother Suzanne told TheJournal.ie.
“We’re very positive people and we would have always tried to put a positive slant on it, but the challenge for Sean … we live in Tipperary and there would have been a lot of hurling around here. I think it was a huge challenge for Sean,” she said.
‘An electrical storm’
The day after O’Neill’s 18th birthday, he was at home with his mother when he experienced a life-threatening arrhythmia.
He sustained six shocks from his defibrillator, which is inserted in his chest, something his mother described as an “electrical storm”.
“I was lucky I was actually with him. It was a really, really low point for him because the trauma of it alone to be shocked from a defib, it’s very hard,” Suzanne said.
“We just felt that there had to be something for him. We were just so frustrated that he was having such a difficult time,” she added.
It was at this point that O’Neill’s parents made the decision to get him involved in golf, something his doctor at Crumlin had suggested, and paid for lessons for him.
They also began looking into events he could get involved in.
“We were frantic, really, looking online to see if there was any positive thing that we could apply for or that he could get,” Suzanne said.
Round of a Lifetime
After finding details about the organisation online, they wrote an application to Round of a Lifetime (ROAL) in the US.
The Round of a Lifetime Foundation was established in 2010 to preserve the memory and passion of Andrew Maciey, who passed away from Familial Dilated Cardiomyopathy at the age of 24.
The foundation holds a major annual golf tournament, rallies, fundraisers and other outings throughout the year.
Furthermore, it provides golf trips for people who have congenital heart defects.
Earlier this year, the O’Neill family received an email from ROAL to confirm that Sean had been chosen to be a recipient for one of this trips. This is the first time the foundation has chosen somebody from outside of the US to take part.
Next weekend, O’Neill will travel to Florida to play at TPC Sawgrass.
“He was delighted, he was absolutely thrilled,” Suzanne said.
“There was great excitement. It was the excitement of who was going to come with him.”
O’Neill has chosen his father, his neighbour and a friend to travel with him on the trip.
ROAL president Joe Maciey told TheJournal.ie that O’Neill was chosen for the trip “based on not only meeting the criteria of the foundation, but someone who makes a good fit”.
“Sean is our first international recipient and we are so happy to have awarded him a trip to play at TPC Sawgrass in Florida,” Maciey said.
Speaking of what it means to her for O’Neill to have been chosen, his mother said: “He’s had so many negative experiences and so many challenges that we just want him to have a positive experience.
“We’re very, very grateful to the foundation because financially we wouldn’t have been in a position for anything like this.”
Suzanne expressed her gratitude to the doctors at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, the Mater Foundation and ROAL for their support towards Sean over the years.
Great Little Country for Landlords
@Stevie Doran: Won’t be long now until you have someone coming along trying to make out that landlords don’t make very much money and tenants are bad and oh lord isn’t it so hard being a landlord….
@Stevie Doran: 41 Tds are landlords.
@Stevie Doran: Landlords are getting out. Another reason rent continues to rise.
@ObsidianShine: or some else trying to make out landlords are all bad greedy people…oh wait.
@Stevie Doran: cos landlords created the lack of supply
@Stevie Doran: tax rate of 50% plus
@Joseph Lyons: more than 50% of landlords getting cash in hand
@Stevie Doran: link?
@Stevie Doran: really? And revenue just turn a blind eye do they? Talking out ya bum hole there friend
@Stevie Doran: Source?
@Joseph Lyons: has someone else taken over your account? That’s 3 agreements in 1 morning.
@Stevie Doran: so why are half of them selling up?
@GMCManning: Landlords didn’t create the lack of supply, they just took advantage of it…
@Stevie Doran: Only if you are a Vulture Fund
@Peter Coen: So what. They have done nothing for landlords except diminish their rights
@Stevie Doran: Talk about made up facts
Dublin not having a Directly Elected Mayor accountable and Responsible for housing and accommodation is one of the reasons we are having a housing crisis, other cities around the world with Directly Elected Mayor’s have been able to implement policy’s to combat out of control housing rental price increases. Eoghan Murphy has completely failed!
@Cormac McKay Dublin:
Housing crises are actually a hallmark of western cities now. There are very few exceptions.
Barcelona, London, New York, Berlin, Paris etc. All of them are struggling with the same problem.
The. Free. Market. Does. Not. Function. When. Trying. To. House. People. Affordably.
The powers that be need this drilled into their skull.
@Seán Troy: The powers that be are part of the problem, they are mostly landlords. Conflict of interest anyone….
@Seán Troy: but how can we know if we don’t have a free market? The housing market here is managed. Try to build something and see the amount of hoops you have to jump through and regulations that have to be met. I’m not saying some of these aren’t necessary, but blaming a free market when we don’t have one isn’t right.
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil: If there was such a conflict of interest then you would think the tax on landlords would be lower than 50%.
Government gets most of the rent money after the bank. Very little if anything goes to a landlord while they have a mortgage on the property.
This is why they are leaving.
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil: mostly landlords? Lazy fake news. About 1 in 4 TDs own a 2nd property. That is probably not too different than the national average of people of a simikiar salary
@Cormac McKay Dublin: A mayor will do nothing! Only reduce the amount of backhanders that councillors receive. Stupid comment
Ireland has backwards to the Irish Famine times Landlords living the high life on the backs of the Renters while the Renters go to food banks
@Mark Lamb: renting is now the modern day slavery, vested interests have politicians bought off to keep this whole evil setup a massive cashcow.
It’s so great for landlords that they are all getting out of the sector. Easy targets as usual.
We are saving the planet Leo , all the people will soon be living on
The streets. The worst terrorist have being our last 5 governments
Another anti government story put up in the dead of night..
@David Garland: so give us a pro government story
@David Garland: health service? Housing?
@Pete mc pete: He means they put them up at this hour so that less people might read them
@JusticeForJoe: *fewer
@David Garland: are you too a landlord ?
@Andre le Flohic: what’s wrong with being a landlord?
@David Garland: And thus the first story i noticed this morning – see how that works?
@Gavin Conran: and pinned to the top as a ‘must read’ as well, so even at 8.30 am, it’s the first story I see. Most effective way of getting biggest readership possible – not a tactic to bury it so that nobody sees it. There are a lot if conspiracy theories on here every day, but this one reay doesn’t stand up.
@David Garland: there are loads to chose from!
Half a renters money is tax ,the government aren’t going to do anything to stop this steady income
FG are all landlords so they wont be trying to lower rents anytime soon
Greedy landlords.
@Peter Coen: how am I greedy?
@GMCManning: yes, I’m sure they meant you, the individual.
@Darren Sheridan: that’s what Petey said
@Darren Sheridan: Well it appears he is a landlord so his question is valid no?
@Peter Coen: most “greedy landlords” are already capped by RPZs, paying 53% of rental income in taxes and selling up in droves. These increases are clearly due to the new entrants to the rental market: vulture funds who can charge what they like… and pay feck all taxes.
The government get €600 every month in income tax. For every single property. Where are the stats on how much the government has increased earnings.
@crafty nut: 600 every month on every single property sounds like fake news to me
@crafty nut: they hand it back out in the form of Hap payments
@Johannes Baader: If the average rent is €1400 per month then the average tax is just below half that (for small landlords).
Small landlords get charged their normal PAYE rate and PRSI + USC on their income. So about 52%.
Obviously they can claim some expenses so they’re not paying the 52%.
We paid 1500 a month in 2007 for a 4 bed semi in Cork.
We paid 1000 a month in 2010 for a 4-bed semi.
We were able to buy a house in the country in 2015 as we could not afford a mortgage for a house in the city area.
Now those rental properties are 1700+ per month. Supply, demand, what the market will bear, are all a factor. All I can say is I am glad to be out of the rental market, the burden is real. Mortgages are much cheaper than rent but getting a deposit saved is really difficult. Better than the 100% mortgages/negative equity scenario we had in 2008/9 but just a different and very real problem now.
@Seeking Truth: I was in the same situation as you. Bought last year on the fringes of the commuter belt as I couldn’t buy closer to Dublin. Mortgage is around €400 cheaper than what I was paying in rent every month.
@Seeking Truth: Same situation here, we bought in Dublin when the market had completely bottomed out in 2012, rent for our old place has double since then (recently back up on daft), we were lucky with the timing but high cost of renting prices so many out of buying.
Corrupt corporate governance
The dogs on the street know what’s going to happen next. Bank lending rules will be changed to allow borrowers to borrow more to allow them to purchase their own homes. Unfortunately this will cause house prices to rise overnight. Rents won’t come down either.
Too many people, not enough houses
My family outgrew our very small 2bed house and we have bought a larger family home. The small house is still in negative equity after 12 years so we can’t sell. I am a reluctant landlord. Because of the nearly 50% tax rate to rental income, to break even I need to charge almost double my mortgage amount. That is why some rents are high. Not because I or others are greedy…because I need to break even.
@KDoyle: You won’t get any sympathy from the anti-landlord brigade here . Maths is n’t their strong point and they are not interested in the difficulties of being a landlord.
@KDoyle: You dont need to break even you just want to break even. Is not the tenant fault your are in negative equity.
@artur filip: So you would expect every landlord, no matter what their circumstances to let properties at a cost to them? So I pay a mortgage and a bit for the next 30years because I got caught by the balls buying an over valued house in 2007? I should be punished? Seriously, thats the solution?
@KDoyle:
So you bought a house, and then said “I want a bigger house”, and decide that you’re a poor unfortunate soul when you have to pay for your original house?
When your tenants have paid off the mortgage on your old house you won’t be “breaking even”, you’ll be making a big fat profit.
@KDoyle: Most small landlords “invest” to have a house(s) to use as a pension or to leave to their kids. Their idea of breaking even is that tenants pay the mortgage over 25 years and they pay nothing themselves. If they have to pay out anything its considered a loss. So after 25 years their pension is fully paid for by tenants. Where else would you get your pension fully paid for by someone else?
@Fr. Fintan Stack: you are missing the point of my original post. I don’t want to be a landlord but I needed to move (64sqm terraced house with two kids, one spare bed). But I also cannot shoulder the negative equity. Once this negative equity is gone it will be sold. So my point is there are various types of landlord. Not all are evil caricatures out to screw the ordinary people.
@KDoyle: You made the decision not to sell your original property and move in to a bigger house. Now you are passing your negative equity on to your tenants. Should they be punished? On the flip side if your older property devalued then you got your bigger property at a relative bargain at the same time. Swings and roundabouts.
Rather than have the usual tenants v landlords argument while govt sit back why not give some suggestions. Personally I think if there were tax breaks for landlords if they entered into longer term tenancies indexed linked to inflation (so can go down when next recession hits) this would help
@dublindamo: nice idea…but in practice? I am a landlord and I have a pain in the ass with tenants moving in/out. I tried long term contracts and the tenants wouldn’t sign them!
@dublindamo: While I agree with you, giving tax breaks to landlords would be politically unpopular. You only have to look at all the anti-landlord comments on this page to see how that would work out. To give tax breaks to Vulture Funds who pay little tax anyway would be the last straw for most people.
@John Horan: renting to families with children in early primary school is ideal. Should have them for 8+ years. We rented for 7 years near the primary school and were thankful for long term contracts.
@Pierre Lecake: the pursuit of politically popular solution of persecuting the landlord hasn’t worked though has it? There was tonnes of accommodation in 2010. I was renting out a 2 bed in Dublin for 925 per month and glad to get it. Then they started cracking down on landlords and the situation for tenants has greatly worsened.
The vulture funds are feasting while government sit back and allow them to pick the bones of its citizens. FFG have failed us, I despise their cheer leaders.
The solution to this is not to put pressure on government to solve the housing crisis. The solution is to put up wages in areas of high rent & get companies to put pressure on the government to fix it. That’s who they listen to.
@Mjhint: Zimbabwe
Half the landlords income is also taxed
@Una Nolan: As a PAYE worker if I do overtime or take on a second job I am taxed at over half my income. Unlike landlords I dont get 100% mortgage interest relief either.
@Una Nolan: Poor landlords , thats awful… Nearly as bad as being homeless with a family..
@Fr. Fintan Stack: Renting is a business and mortgage interest relief is a legitimate business expense. If you work overtime it is highly likely you will be paid. Being a landlord carries the huge risk of tenants not paying their rent and overholding which is basically stealing your property. They are supported in this by Threshold, The RTB and all the left wing politicians. We take financial risks in supplying a needed service but have little or no rights and then pay a fortune in taxes for the privilege. We are talking apples and oranges here Fintan
Here we go another boom-bust is hurdling down the tracks, rent rising and no curtailment or support by Government to struggling renters or struggling home owners. The country and Government has not learnt anything.
@Joseph Molloy: the next recession will hit soon, that will bring down prices
@Joseph Molloy: this is not a problem isolated to Ireland. It’s worldwide
@Gus Sheridan: Sooner the better…
@Boris Becker: No. No one even accepts HAP. Cop on.
@Boris Becker: so everyone on HAP is a social sponging scammer? Didn’t you go bankrupt and try a bit of scamming yourself Boris?
It’s never going to change until we get rid of FG and FF, who are friends only to builders and developers.
Any words of wisdom for one reluctant landlord who was forced to rent property in order to pay the mortgage. Their Tenants consistently made their payments late which put huge strains on the landlord who still has to pay the mortgage on time. The landlord decided there is no option but to sell the property. Because the tenants are in situe more than a year they must by law be given 4 months written notice of the intention to sell the property together with a solicitor’s letter verifying that the house is to be sold.
The tenants on receipt of the notice of sale of the property discontinued all rent payments. The landlords now legally had to issue an overdue notice, a 14 day notice and then a 28 day notice for tenants to quit the property. Still no response from the tenants, who by now are 2 months in arrears with payments and have cut off all avenues of communication – no response to texts or phone calls.
The tenants had been informed when the notice that the property was going on the market was delivered that an estate agent would be calling to value the property for sale. They are ignoring all calls from the estate agent. So we have tenants living rent free in the landlord’s property while the landlord must continue to pay the mortgage, house insurance and Revenue and are not able to have the house valued for sale.
Landlords get the worst word in most people’s mouths. What would those who might be in the position of the above landlord feel if they were that landlord?
@Mary Dunphy: You won’t get any sympathy here Mary from the anti landlord brigade. Overholding is theft and should be made a criminal offence with the Guards going in and arresting the offenders.Unfortunately the Housing Charity Industry and left wing politicians are cheerleaders for this type of activity and as all landlords are considered evil there will be no justice for you.
@Mary Dunphy: this situation you describe us the reason why landlords are leaving the market. Nobody goes through this ordeal twice.
It is what it is
@bill2345: it’s great craic altogether.
@bill2345: Official FG line that…
OK, but for what size and what type of accommodation? A fancy penthouse? A shabby apartment? A 3-bedrooms house? There’s only one size mention – for Cork, and that’s it.
@Aga Grandowicz: It’s the average of all listings on daft regardless of size
So long as you’re comparing like for like there’s no reason to break it down by size the purpose is to show % increase in rent year on year
We need more unity and social cohesion in this country. We need a “Yes in my backyard” movement to solve this crisis.
@sVRCsaSg: It will never happen with the older generations or country folk
Rent increases should not be allowed, if you are paying for the landlord’s mortgage.
@Timbob Kinky-Boots Dennehy: Pay increases for workers should not be allowed if they are paying their mortgage. See where I’m going with this. By your logic rent increases are ok if the landlord has his mortgage paid off or maybe he does n’t bother pay his mortgage and spends it on good times instead. I weep in despair at these type of comments and you got 4 likes
Yaay
Captive market. It’s a political pornfest.
What do you get for the €1,400? Is that for a 2 bed?
@Piaras: a one bed or a studio in some cases in dublin
@Shannon Cassidy:
Only if by “studio” you mean somebody’s garage. When I tell people in normal european countries about converted garages and sheds being rented as “studio apartmens” they’re shocked, but we just think it’s normal here.
It’s like how we keep talking about “apartments” which are actually just rooms in houseshares. The stats are fecked, things are much worse than they let on.
Didn’t we fight the landlord system at the start of the last century, and the ones before that. Oh well same old same old for the poor Irish downtrodden. Rich get richer etc etc etc.
Such greedy landlords and it doesent seem to be slowing down
If the marginal rate of tax is 53% then a person needs to earn €4,260 per month or ~€50,000 per annum to pay for the average rental in Dublin. This means that most people are struggling to survive and savings are impossible to get into the owner’s market (if that is the plan). I would posit that this is untenable and will either turn Ireland into a very high cost economy (ala Switzerland) with little or no benefits. Taking this into account with the impending Brexit impact and the conflicting demands of our burgeoning welfare system, this does not make the prognosis very healthy.
@Darren Sheridan: I did/do
For all the people giving out about “greedy” landlords, educate yourselves. My mortgage is 800 euro per month. If I wanted to move and rent my house, I would have to charge over 1,600 just to break even. This is because the government charges the marginal rate of tax on rental income.
Was there ever a more pointless stat as ‘average rent in Ireland’?
Wrong €772 in longford that my house to next door rent €1,000 crazy in longford
@Brian Flavin: stay off the weed bro
I pay tax for landlords and every other non taxpayer, I am a public servant, not a flecking politician, who just talks, that is all a politician does, is talk.
Until his fat cattle, arrive home.
My Mortgage in Rathfarnham is less than the national rent average? Madness.
Reasonably priced and affordable
have your say