Praise for South Tipp “Band of Brothers”

Photo © Tipp FM

A local councillor has paid tribute to the “band of brothers” from South Tipp who organised a convoy to bring medical supplies and equipment to Ukraine.

Councillor John Fitzgerald says a group of farmers and locals from the Kilsheelan and Waterford areas got together to put their skills to use in order to send some much-needed relief to the war-torn country.

The group used their own contacts to seek out medical supplies from local pharmacies, an ambulance and generators and re-serviced end-of-life jeeps all worth over €100,000 to the Ukraine army.

Cllr. Fitzgerald says the group never sought recognition or credit for their efforts, but the council honoured them at its meeting this month.

“I like to call them the band of brothers. They were a group of farmers that know each other through discussion groups. They had a think tank about it, and they came up with the idea of doing something they were really able to do in a practical way. They did it and pulled it off, and I raised it at Tipperary County Council because I thought they deserved some recognition.

“They never went highlighting this or beating their chests after having done it. I thought because of the value of the convoy that went to the Ukraine, I thought it was worth saluting at something of a good news story, something we can be proud of, a kind of Better Ireland.”

They personally drove the resources from Tipperary through Britain, and across Europe – France, Germany, Austria and Hungary – to deliver them to the battalion of the Ukrainian army.

Speaking to Tipp FM, the Fine Gael councillor says the group sourced everything themselves.

“They were able to ask people that they knew they could rely on, people they would have been dealing with in their own businesses and farms. End of life jeeps, like somebody might have one randomly themselves that they might have considered trading so they said instead, “Put it into this.” They looked for them off garages. A lot of them were farmers, so they were dealing with service providers that had these. They bought them themselves in garages where they could get them very cheap, but then made them all workable and did what they had to do to get them over there.”