A young student contacted St Vincent De Paul to say that he needed money to pay for college. He was worried that he would lose his place if he didn't provide payment. St Vincent De Paul did a good deed and gave him the money for what they thought were going towards his college fees. They normally pay the institution directly but as this was a time sensitive matter, they issued him with a cheque instead.
The unnamed man apparently posted a photo onto his Instagram account containing this cheque and also a pint onto his social media and said
"That's me sorted for the Listowel Races".
The Listowel Races are taking place in Listowel, Co. Kerry this week.
Christy Lynch (the St Vincent de Paul Regional President for Cork and Kerry) was speaking to Radio Kerry. He said: "The young lad had a rush of blood to the head. He was boasting about what he was going to do, it was a silly thing to do "This was an incident that got out of hand. The family are very upset. It’s done, the good intentions were there by the conference, I stand behind them in that. It was a complete bravado, a 'look what I’m doing, I got a cheque'.
Mr Lynch said he does not believe it was the man’s intention to spend the money on the race meeting, there had been reputational damage to St Vincent de Paul.
The Cheque has since been cancelled. He said the society continued to work with the student and his place had been secured. Mr Lynch also said that this is the first time something like this has happened and apologised for the incident, and said that they will do everything in their power to prevent a recurrence.
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