Heartless thief steals charity money destined for children's hospice

A Navan business owner has been left devastated after a callous thief broke into her premises on Monday evening and stole money earmarked for a children's hospice. 

Eimear Reynolds says she is 'heartbroken' after four months of tips worth €1000 donated by kind-hearted staff members in Bakealicious in Old Corn market that was destined for LauraLynn, Ireland's only children's hospice was taken from her storeroom while the coffe shop and bakery was still open. 

Eimear and her staff have raised a staggering €12,000 since she started the fundraising efforts four years ago in memory of her niece who tragically passed away at just ten weeks old. This is just the latest in a string of incidents in Corn Market that she says has a 'major drug problem.'

"I am so angry. The girls here donate all of their tips to Laura Lynn on an ongoing basis. They are so decent and it is just disgusting that someone would steal money so vitally needed for sick children."

The Navan businesswoman explains the heartbreaking reason she chose this charity. 

"My niece Eve who was born in London passed away in 2015 at ten weeks old and to mark her first birthday we thought we'd do something to put a positive spin on it and we held a big fundraising event and raised over €4,000.  When I got the shop here we thought that it would be a good idea to give our tips to LauraLynn which all of the staff are delighted to do.

Bakealicious in Old Cornmarket 

"Eve was in Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and because she was so sick we were given the option of an operation which her chances of surviving were very low or to put her into a children's hospice so we said we'd take the chance of the operation and she came out of the operation perfectly.

"We were so happy, it was a complete and utter miracle. Ten days later she passed away from organ failure. The reason we collect for Laura Lynn is that we had those ten weeks with her, it's not a very long time but the memories we have from that time are everything to us.  

"When a child goes into a hospice you know what the end result is going to be but it is those precious moments that keep you going when days are really really dark. 

"That €1,000 could have gone towards respite care or other services that they provide. This person who stole that money has denied that to a family. 

Eimear says there has been a string of similar incidents on Cornmarket recently. 

"There is a massive drug epidemic in Navan.  Everyone can see it but no one is doing anything about it. 

"I was here on Monday evening while we were still open cleaning the coffee machine and could hear someone stepping on the creaky floorboard outside the storeroom and I knew something wasn't right. 

"A woman came down the stairs and ran out of the door really quickly with her hood up. I went out after her and looked up the stairs and the storeroom door was open and it was then that I realised that the Laura Lynn jar was in there so I ran down the street after her but she bolted. 

An artist's impression of what Cornmarket could look like should the Council proceed with its inclusion in the Navan 2030 project.

"I know who she is, she comes into us here and buys cakes. The worst part is she said hello to me on the lane the next morning.

"I never have that much cash on the premises usually but because we were so busy at Christmas I didn't get to go to the bank with it. We are really shaken and upset over it but the money is not the main issue. 

"We never had an incident in the four years we have been here and in the last four months, a number of things have happened. We had a guy in before Christmas who did heroin in the bathroom and left blood all over the floor. 

"Another day two men came in and tried to take money out of the till. We have people passed out on the lane all the time and on two consecutive days there have been people passed out from heroin. You are basically stepping over someone to come into a coffee shop. 

"I had so many messages yesterday on social media saying they won't come into Navan at night because it's too dangerous to walk on the street. 

"What has to happen for people to take this seriously. There is nothing being done. We need more presence of gardai on the streets. You don't know when you are locking up here at night what you are going to be faced with."