A large family syndicate from Co Mayo have officially become the largest Lotto winners in Ireland after they claimed a prize worth €19,060,800.
The family - who have not been identified - have claimed their winnings from Lotto headquarters in Dublin.
The winning ticket was a Quick Pick ticket bought at Laura's XL store in Castlebar.
In a statement issued this evening, a spokesperson for the family said the evening they won is now a blur.
"Even though we're finally collecting a cheque for over €19 million, we're still waiting for somebody to tell us that we made a mistake and we're not the winners at all," the spokesperson said.
"There was a lot of excitement about the draw that night, so we watched it on the television at home. I had the ticket in my hand and to see the six numbers come out one after another was like an out of body experience. It's impossible to explain.
"We didn't get carried away one bit because we thought that there was no way we could have won it.
"After about 20 minutes, the ticket scanned, and a message popped up that will live with us all for the rest of our lives. It said, 'You've won big!' It was such an incredible moment."
The spokesperson went on to say, that in the days after the draw, when it was not publicly known where exactly the win was, that it was "funny to see the excitement growing."
"One night we were watching the news on TV when somebody in Mayo was interviewed, and they mentioned that they better check their tickets to see if they were the lucky winner. One of the family shouted at the TV, 'Don't bother checking because we've got the winning ticket right here'.
"We all absolutely burst out laughing knowing that all this fuss was being made and we had the winning ticket all along."
The group has taken some time out to consider their plans, but they have vowed to share their good fortune with those close to them, while they also plan on helping community groups and charities which are close to their heart.
"It's such a huge sum of money so as a group, we will be taking as much time as we need to get the right guidance before we make any big decisions," the spokesperson said.
"While we all will have our own individual plans, the big thing we want to do is help our wider family, close friends and indeed our community in any way we can.
"Of course, we will be paying off whatever mortgages and loans that we have, but we have also drawn up a list of people to help in our communities and we look forward to helping out some charities and organisations in the coming months.
"It really is such an exciting time in our lives and we can't wait to get started to changing people's lives."
The National Lottery have also confirmed that the Lotto jackpot roll sequence alone raised in excess of €60 million for local Good Causes in communities across Ireland.
