Conor McGregor’s ‘arm twisted’ on donation by Galway nurse

From this week’s Galway City Tribune: As fears heightened this week that hospitals getting to grips with the Covid-19 outbreak were running out of personal protective equipment (PPE), trojan efforts were being made in the background to ensure that our nurses, doctors and frontline healthcare workers were fully protected.

Former city councillor and nurse Mary Leahy has played a big part in that, and her efforts had a significant boost on Wednesday evening when MMA star Conor McGregor donated €1 million towards buying face masks, visors and other protective equipment for the hospitals most in need.

Ms Leahy told the Galway City Tribune that she had expected to be speaking to McGregor’s accountant when she dialled into a teleconference on Wednesday evening, but upon hearing a thick Dublin accent, soon realised it was McGregor himself who was on the phone.

“The call lasted about 40 minutes. I was the only medic on the call so he asked for an explanation of Covid-19 and I told him about the role he had to play in getting the message out there to younger people about congregating in groups,” explained the Public Health Nurse and former INMO Vice President.

Mr McGregor had initially promised €1 million for hospitals in the east of the country, but a message from Ms Leahy promising to “see him in the ring” if he forgot Galway saw him extend his offer.

This is a preview only. To read the rest of this article and extensive coverage of Covid-19’s impact on Galway, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here.