Big-hearted kids left ‘disappointed’ after honesty box is fleeced

The two youngsters, Liam Ellis (11) and his sister Sophie (10) were giving half the takings from their egg selling business to charity and had already raised an incredible €3,000.

"It's really disappointing alright. The kids put a lot of work in feeding and caring for their hens. They're just so disappointed," their mother, Caitríona, said.

Now the generous young pair have been forced to close the honesty box, ‘The Honest Egg’ which had been running for the past year near Caponellan Woods’ main road.

"We leave the eggs there and people just get them as they need. The kids deliver to neighbours also but they have over 100 hens, so they had to get another way to sell them," Catriona said.

Liam and Sophie had been leaving the eggs in the small, wooden shed on a grassy verge for people to purchase, as part of their LE Eggs initiative.

A total of 23 boxes of eggs were stolen last weekend from the hatch, along with their money box.

Their mother Catriona said it was the fourth robbery from the children’s heroic efforts, on behalf of Laura- Lynn Hospice.

She also highlighted the wonderful support Liam Ellis and Sophie have received.

“People are texting and wanting to give donations and wanting to help. People are great. It is brilliant, everyone has been so supportive and everyone was so honest,” she said.

Gardaí said they were investigating a theft that occurred at approximately 10am on Sunday 26th March 2023 in the Durrow area of County Laois and enquiries are “ongoing”.

LauraLynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice, provide specialist palliative care to meet the needs of children with life limiting conditions.

The charity aims to ensure all children and their families have equitable access to palliative care services.

It’s not the first time an honesty box has gone missing in Ireland this year, with locals reporting the theft of a ‘poor box’ from a south-west Dublin church last month.

The priest was reported to have chased a group of youths up the road in an effort to reclaim their ill-gotten gains.