House sale unleashes €190,000 for ISPCA

The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals got an early Christmas present when it realised €190,000 from the sale of a North Clare house.

The house in Ballinsheen, Lisdoonvarna was bequeathed to the charity in the will of well-known GP, Dr Maura Lernihan.
It has been on the market for over a year and in April the 191m2 property failed to attract any bids at auction. However the three-bedroom house was sold recently by private treaty.
According to Noel Griffin, chief executive of the ISPCA, the money will provide it with a welcome boost.
“Donations are always important but to put this in context we have wonderful people out collecting at the moment and each of them will probably come back with a couple of hundred euro, so if we are fortunate we might get €20,000 to €25,000 from people going out in the cold in the run up to Christmas selling things. This donation will work out at almost eight times that for us so the sum involved is huge,” he told The Clare Champion.
The house is located on half an acre and close to the centre of the famous Spa Town. It was put on the market for €350,000 two years ago and achieved in €190,000 it has been confirmed.
“While the house went for less than expected, it is not as bad as it sounds because anything we would like to put it towards costs less now so the purchasing power is there. This sort of donation is particularly important now as people have less money so donations are down and that is combined with people not having the money to take care of dogs so there are more dogs coming in. With that in mind this money is more valuable to us now than it would have been,” Mr Griffin added.
Mr Griffin has said the society is currently undecided on a use for the money but is keen to put it towards a project in memory of the late doctor.
“We are throwing around ideas. We hope to erect a plaque here in Dr Lernihan’s memory. She loved dogs so we are looking at spending the money in the canine world,” he concluded.