Galway man raises €25,000 for Gaza after incredible tractor drive along Wild Atlantic Way

Pat Murphy , a woodwork teacher at Wesley College Dublin, inched his way along the 2,800km picturesque route in his restored 1962 David Brown between Malin Head in Donegal to Ireland's most south-westerly point at Mizen Head in Cork.

The father-of-four, who is from Corofin, Galway, but lives in Sallins, Kildare, initially set his fundraising goal at €5,000 on his GoFundMe web page in August when he did the challenge, but ended up with €25,277 by the end of October.

He has now given the money raised to the Irish humanitarian agency Concern Worldwide for the work they are doing in Gaza through a partner organisation.

Pat chose Concern because of his past involvement with them as a volunteer in Rwanda in 1995 and 1996 after the brutal genocide that occurred there.

Pat said: "I have been supporting Concern for over 30 years and always admired the great work that they do.

"We hope our novel idea of a vintage tractor run will inspire others to help people in need too.

He added about his epic journey: "The main challenge along the drive was the rain and wind because the tractor is open top so there was nowhere to hide.

"I had really good weather gear, but it was hard going at times. My journey was made enjoyable because of the beautiful scenery along the way.

"We met loads of interesting people and tourists from around the world who were fascinated with what we were doing."

Concern's Community Fundraising Manager, Joanne Arnold, thanked Pat for his "incredible contribution and selfless act of goodwill."

"We are immensely grateful to Pat Murphy and all who supported him," she said.

Pat was accompanied by his friend Tony Harrison, who drove a camper van for them to sleep in each night, and his pal Brendan Joyce brought the tractor to Malin Head and collected it when they reached Mizen Head.