Hero council worker sifts through rubbish to find silver that was last link to woman’s dead sister.

A PRECIOUS ring of incalculable sentimental value was recovered after a council worker sifted through a day’s worth of rubbish.

Anthony McDermott is known to many in West Cork through his day job with the council over the last 37 years, and his time as an elected member of Clonakilty Town Council, and as Mayor.

Public service is nothing new to him, but when Margaret Daly, a woman he was sitting beside at a senior citizen’s social on Sunday night, showed him a post on Facebook about a woman who had lost a ring that was her last link to her sister who had passed away, he resolved to do something about it.

Carol O’Leary had posted her dilemma online. She had the feeling that it was after throwing her son’s sweet wrapper into a bin at Astna Square that the ring slipped from her hand.

She knew it had gone into the bin because she heard it drop. And, as she walked away, Carol said: ‘I was heartbroken at the thought that the ring could have been lost to me forever.’

Aware that these bins are emptied daily Anthony called into work after the function, retrieved the key that opens the bins, and took the large, heavy-duty, black plastic bag home.

In the early morning light, Anthony emptied what could have been described as liquid swill onto the floor of his shed and methodically went through every item, every scrap of cardboard and wrapper, until he found the triple band silver ring.

In true detective fashion, Anthony sourced the woman’s phone number through social media and she was overjoyed when she heard the good news. ‘I was aware that this was one of the last connections she had with her sister, so it was important for me to do everything in my power to find it,’ Anthony told The Southern Star. ‘I could tell from her initial post on social media that the loss of the ring had stressed her out completely. And I knew it wouldn’t cost me anything to do the search.’

Anthony said it was ‘messy, very messy’, with lots of bin juice sloshing around, but the retrieval of a few Return bottles netted him a few pounds!

Anthony was elected to Clonakilty Urban District Council and Clonakilty Town Council three times, and twice elected Mayor. As a father of four, a grandfather to five, soon to be six, and husband to his wife Julian, Anthony (64) is a busy man who is involved in many community organisations.

‘It’s nice to do something nice,’ he said.

‘I got a nice buzz out of it because when I handed it back to the woman she was absolutely delighted. I could see it in her eyes. It meant so much to her. It was emotional. For her, and I felt it myself too.’

About 15 years ago, Anthony found €1,500 cash in an envelope while sweeping the streets early one morning.

He learned of a parent who had lost his child’s college tuition money and was thrilled to be able to return it.

Cllr Daniel Sexton (Ind Ire) paid tribute to Anthony at a meeting of the council’s Western Division in Clonakilty on Monday.

‘Anthony is a hero to me because this ring is of huge, huge sentimental value,’ Carol said.

‘I have worn it every day since my sister passed and now it is back on my right-hand thumb where, hopefully, it will stay forever.’

Carol praised ‘the power of Facebook, and Anthony’s kindness, for returning my sister’s ring to me’.