A Spanish family has been picked from over 1,000 applicants to live rent free for a year in a small Gaeltacht community on the Galway-Mayo border.
The competition was organised by local people in An Chloch Bhreac outside An Fhairce, in a bid to save their primary school from closing.
Isabel Fortes and Miguel Ángel Ros will relocate from northern Spain with their five children in early August.
Their children are aged nine, two aged eight and one aged five and they will be enrolled into infants, third and fourth classes at Scoil Naomh Pádraig.
The addition of the Spanish children, as well as two more unexpected enrolments, will bring the numbers at the school to 15 in September.
Geraldine Feerick is Principal of Scoil Naomh Pádraig.
"We are over the moon," she said. "There were 1,100 applications and we whittled it down to 20 and then came up with a shortlist of 10.
"There were a number of interviews and we eventually picked the family from northern Spain because they ticked all the boxes for us. Five children of school-going age was ideal for us."
Ms Fortes is already working at Boston Scientific in Galway and her husband is a mechanic with a truck licence. Their five children will relocate later this summer.
Ms Feerick explained her connections with the west of Ireland.
"Isabel was an au pair here in Killanin and obtained a degree from the University of Galway. She is back in Ireland three months and is working for Boston Scientific.
"The family will move into their new home at the start of August."
It is a five-bedroom house donated by a local family and is located near the rural school between Loch Measc and Loch Coirib in the heart of Joyce Country.
The village of An Chloch Bhreac has seen the demise of its shop and post office in recent years and the community was determined not to let that happen to their school.As well as being Principal of Scoil Naomh Pádraig, Ms Feerick is one of two teaching staff and there is a learning support teacher too.
"It's a fantastic opportunity for any family because it's a small school where we have lots of support, lots of things going on through gaeilge.
"They don't have any Irish and not a whole of English but they will pick up the language because kids are like sponges."
The local community are looking forward to the new arrivals and have said the biggest change for the family will be the weather.
