Deirdre Hetherington -the founding mother of PAWS (as written by Gina Hetherington)

Tonight’s fundraising post is dedicated to Deirdre, my Mum. The founder of this rescue. My best friend.
On Sunday the 13th of May 2018 Deirdre peacefully passed away. Mourned by her family and friends but what a massive legacy she left behind.
How it all began.
The original concept was to rehome unwanted pets from their current homes and take in dogs from Kildare Dog pound to save them from destruction.
At the time, there were 35,000 dogs being killed in Irish Dog Pounds every year, with Kildare being among the top ten and we felt this was no longer acceptable. Soon, word about PAWS spread via the media and my weekly appearances on TV3 and we were assisting animals from the 26 counties and beyond.
By 2000, PAWS was taking every dog available from South Dublin Dog Pound in Saggart and Greyhounds from Ashton Pound in North Dublin. In 2004, we realised that we no longer had the space to hold the number of dogs that desperately needed our help, so we approached Kildare Co Council and asked them to donate a site and we would raise funds to build an animal shelter, However the Lady from KCC Environment Department said, “Our job is to clean up the streets, not to find homes for them”.
This one sentence alone speaks volumes of the uphill battle we had ahead of us but we had no plans in ever turning back.
You don’t go to war to be a deserter.
So, after we were turned down by planning for our Kildare home, we relocated to Mullinahone in Co Tipperary, where we successfully saved and rehomed thousands of dogs with particular success in looking after greyhounds. Her favourite dog of all.
Deirdre worked hard all her life. But dogs were her passion and in her 64th year, 11 years after battling and beating breast cancer, she founded PAWS Animal Rescue. She begged, borrowed, and lobbied to get what was needed to save the dogs, especially her beloved greyhounds. Politicians, Bank Managers, IGB, County Councils and others could never say, no, to this formidable lady” Some did, admittedly, say, ‘Oh Lord’ when her number came up on their phone but eventually, she swayed them with her charm, knowledge and sheer forcefulness.

“I remember, when I was a child, she made washing up liquid in giant drums inside our garage. She bottled & labelled it as ‘Squeez’ and sold it to HB Dairies, pubs, hotels, supermarkets et al. Then, when ‘Squeezy’ washing up liquid hit the Irish market, she insisted they pay for the rights to use ‘Her’ product. She imported the first cigarette vending machines from the UK and sold them door to door to pubs and clubs. We would arrive home from school on a Friday, only to be bundled into the car and across on the ferry to London to buy two or three machines. She would bring them back on the roof rack (Oh, the hilarious memories) to sell them in Dublin.
“The world lost one of the most amazing human beings ever created. That day. The world and more importantly, the world of Animal Welfare in Ireland lost a founding Mother”

To be continued…….

So far, we have raised €1,000 of our €25,000 target.
You can donate via the donate button at the top of the page, via PayPal to info@paws.ie, at www.paws.ie/donate or by post to PAWS, Mullinahone, Co Tipperary. E41 R652.
This is such a great start to our fundraiser.
Thank you to everyone donating.
Hope you all have a lovely evening.
See you same time same place tomorrow night with another update and story.
Love Gina, Sarah and team Paws