THE FOUNDER of the Tiglin Addiction Rehabilitation Centre, Aubrey McCarthy, has been named as the Kildare Person of the year.
The announcement was made at the Rehab Kildare People of the Year awards, which took place at the Hotel Keadeen in Newbridge last Friday night. The awards ceremony was attended by 300 guests. The guests included mayor of Kildare, cllr Ivan Keatley, who represented the main sponsors of the event, Kildare County Council, the CEO of Rehab Ireland Mo Flynn and Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin Denis Nulty.
The MC for the event was Matt Browne, who organised the event along with Edel Browne Curran and Rose Barrett O’Donoghue. The judges for the event were PJ Gorey, Nellie Dillon and Evelyn Sheehy Moyles.
Aubrey McCarthy was nominated for his work with Tiglin Rehabilitation Centre and his work with the homeless. Tiglin now has two centres based in Wicklow: a 32-bed facility for men, which is located at Ashford, and a 12-bed unit for women, which was formerly at Shecham House in Newbridge but has since been relocated to Brittas Bay.
Kildare Person of the Year Aubrey McCarhy (right) with his sponsor Joe Mallon of Joe Mallon Motors at the awards cerermony last weekend in the Keadeen Hotel, Newbridge
Photos: Piotr Kwasnik
Aubrey, who is originally from Cork but now lives in Punchestown, runs The Elms in Punchestown with his brother Fergal. He co-founded Tiglin with Philip Thompson from Newbridge and they work with volunteers, most of whom are from Kildare.
Aubrey says he was stunned to receive the award and he told the Kildare Nationalist that what they do in Tiglin is life transforming.
“I was very surprised to receive the award but I suppose every family in Ireland is affected by addiction and most people can relate to that,” he said. “Two guys who I brought with me as my special guests to the award ceremony illustrate what we do. We have managed to get them their own accommodation and they are both now in education – one is studying journalism and the other is studying business. The initial award that I was to receive was for Advocate of the Year and I was honoured to receive that. However, to be named as the Kildare Person of the Year is an unexpected but most appreciated honour.”
On the night, a posthumous award was dedicated to the late Michael Fitzpatrick, a former garda, county councillor and TD for North Kildare, who died of Motor Neurone Disease in 2011, aged only 69 years.
Other award winners were: Joanne Keeneghan, Jim Clarke and John Joe Walshe, who were nominated for their commitment to GAA; Olympian Patrick Monaghan; Marie Kelly, who was nominated for her charity work; Kevin (Pud) Barrett, who was nominated for his fundraising work; Paddy Price, who brings Christmas cheer to Prosperous; community worker, John ‘Jack’Dunne of Milltown; and the North Kildare Division of St John’s Ambulance.
