Unsung Hero of Offaly 2023 award winner's guiding principle is showing kindness to others

The citation was read at Saturday night's Offaly Person of the Year 2023 presentation dinner in the Bridge house Hotel in Tullamore by organising committee member, Pat Teehan.

It reads: “The 2023 Unsung Hero of Offaly is a retired dairy farmer who taught himself to weld metal as a young man and used this skill to make life easier around the farm in Cooleshall by inventing and modifying things to save money.

He would share his ideas with other farmers and sometimes receive a little income as well to supplement the family's earnings from the farm.

Forever innovative, our Unsung Hero of Offaly would always seek an easier and better way to carry out tasks – a mode of thinking which has served him well throughout his more than nine decades on this earth.

The retired dairy farmer has entered the Inventions Section at Tullamore Show for almost 30 years and has won numerous awards there. He enjoys nothing more than showing his inventions to the public and sharing his ideas with people.

The 2023 award winner loves life, nature and, above all else, his family.

He would say that he has tried most hobbies during his 94 years on the planet – fishing, hunting, hurling, singing at Scór, horse racing, golf and a pastime he continues to excel at – playing cards. He is a great card player but he admits that he gets more fun out of rising and tricking with his fellow card players than the winning.

Spending time outside in the fields enjoying nature was probably the best teacher our 2023 Offaly Unsung Hero ever had.

He loves animals and wildlife and has become a worldwide phenomenon on the internet – with over 1.5 million views on RTE's YouTube page alone – due to the images of him befriending a wild fox during the Covid pandemic period. Every night without fail for over six months he would go out to feed and talk to his wild friend which he appropriately named Covi the Fox.

Overtime the fox became so trusting of him that he would come to him with a whistle and stand upright with his front paws on our Unsung Hero's lap while he gave him some meat which he had saved from his dinner. Our Unsung Hero's wife, Molly, often wondered was he eating his dinner at all of just sneaking the meat out for the fox that evening.

There is a lot more that could be said about this man but as he would say himself all you need to do is love people and love nature and you won't go too wrong.

Ladies and gentlemen please be upstanding for our 2023 Unsung Hero of Offaly award winner, Tony Bergin.”