A couple have pledged to create more millionaires as they plot how to give away much of their £115 million EuroMillions jackpot.

Frances and Patrick Connolly, from Moira in Northern Ireland, are drawing up a 50-strong list of family and close friends and preparing to savour the moment when they tell them of their good fortune.

Mrs Connolly, 52, said: “The pleasure for me will be seeing their faces and asking what they want us to do for them.”

Euromillions winners
Frances Connolly, 52, and Patrick Connolly, 54, from Moira in Northern Ireland, are looking forward to the reaction of friends (Liam McBurney/PA).

When their randomly-selected numbers came up on New Year’s Day after an online “lucky dip” entry the level-headed winners stared at each other in silence then celebrated with a cup of tea. They slept little that night.

On Friday, after a celebratory press conference, the grandparents punched the air and waved their bumper cheque as the champagne flowed.

Mr Connolly, 54, said: “I’ve got a wonderful wife, a wonderful family and wonderful friends, so this is the icing on the cake.

“Money doesn’t bring you happiness. We already had happiness and were very blessed in life.”

Charitable causes and job creation will be future priorities for the businessman and his wife, who worked in education during their 25 years in Hartlepool in Durham.

They met at a wedding in 1989 and spent much of their careers in England but recently returned to Northern Ireland and live in a rented house.

They have three daughters and three grandchildren.

They had not held debt nor indulged in luxuries before their win.

Mrs Connolly said: “This is a massive sum of money and we want it to have a huge impact on the lives of other people we know and love as well as on our future too.

“This win gives us the chance to really make a difference for our family and friends.”

Her husband said the win felt “unreal” and checked several websites to verify it.

The couple struggled to take it in, even after receiving an email telling them they had won.

Mrs Connolly said: “We don’t really do excited – perhaps I raised my voice just a bit at the time when I found out – but we celebrated with a cup of tea and a hug.”

He added: “We really didn’t know what to do or how to react and we didn’t sleep a wink that night.”

Mrs Connolly has been off work for a period of time due to a leg injury.

She said deciding how far to spread their windfall would be tough.

“I’m going to cry myself to sleep that I can’t help everybody. That will be really tough,” she said.

Some of the cash will support a community football club in Hartlepool which she used to work with, St Francis FC.

Asked whether she would have to increase her personal security, she joked: “I’ve never met anybody I couldn’t take down myself, to be fair.”

A huge mansion is not on the cards due to mobility problems.

“I want a bungalow because I can’t walk up the stairs,” she said.

“There’s no way I’m joining the jet set.”

In July 2011, Colin and Chris Weir, from Ayrshire, became the biggest lottery winners in the UK, and across Europe, when they scooped more than £161 million.