Katie sends love to Dad on Bere Island in TV ad

A BERE Island woman who is a leading seaman in the Irish navy features in a heartwarming An Post Christmas TV ad. 

Katie O’Leary stars in the ‘Send Love This Christmas’ campaign this year, which shows Irish people who won’t be spending Christmas with their families this year, sending them surprise personal messages.

Footage shows Katie on board the LÉ Niamh delivering her surprise festive message to dad Tony on Bere Island, who coincidentally was a postman for around a decade. In the ad, she warns Tony not to open the card she sent him until Christmas morning. She also says they’d both be missing mum Carol, who passed away four years ago and whose birthday was Christmas Day. 

Katie has been in the navy since April 2007 and said: ‘For security reasons, we won’t know exactly where we’ll be on Christmas Day, somewhere off the coast, but hopefully there’ll be phone coverage so I can call home. My brother Seamus will be spending the day with dad. My other brother Sean has just had a new baby and will be in Limerick but will visit on St Stephen’s Day.’

The ad was first broadcast last Friday night week during one of the Late Late Show ad breaks and Katie said  both she and Tony, who recently retired after 20 years in the local Coast Guard, got great feedback. 

‘Dad said people were stopping him when he was doing his shopping and he’s had loads of invites for Christmas as people thought he was on his own!’ said Katie. 

 To see the ad for yourself search ‘An Post Katie O’Leary’ on youtube.com.