by Louise Doyle
PADDY Diver is regarded as a community hero. His name has long been synonymous with tireless campaigning for the thousands of people in Donegal whose lives have been affected by living in homes built with defective concrete blocks.
The Inishowen man led an ‘army’ to the country’s capital in 2021 to call for an end to the ‘despair and waking nightmares’ of families living in crumbling homes.
Central to his cause was raising concern for the health and well-being of families, particularly the mental health cracks experienced by parents and children as the dire situation took its toll.
While Mr Diver has since stepped aside from lobbying following the election of four 100% Redress Councillors and a TD, still central to his own personal manifesto is health, and he has turned his attention to helping people in a different way.
The Carndonagh man is the entrepreneur behind ‘Paddy’s Powerful Bottle’ – an immune booster made from ingredients and superfoods including beetroot, turmeric and garlic.
Speaking to the Donegal News, Mr Diver said suffering with his own health for many years led him to explore more natural remedies.
“I suffered with serious aches and pains. I was in agony with Axial Spondyloarthritis, which is a type of arthritis that affects the joints in your axial skeleton (chest, spine and pelvis). It took nearly four years to get diagnosed.
“Before I was diagnosed my sister started telling me about the benefits of turmeric, ginger and anti-inflammation supports. I had no real belief in it to be honest, but she began making it for me.
“I was in agony every morning. I couldn’t even put on my socks but I still had to go to work and make a living for my family,” he said.
“Then I started taking the bottles that my sister made for me, and I found it wasn’t as hard to put on my socks in the morning. I realised there was definitely something good in what I was taking.”
Having started to do a bit of research into natural remedies, Mr Diver said he started listening to Australian alternative health care promoter Barbara O’Neill, who he said he plans to meet in a few weeks’ time.
“I was amazed by some of the things I was reading about the benefits of turmeric and garlic, and of how they were used in countries that had no doctors. When I was driving to work in the early hours of the mornings I would listen to podcasts about doctors and scientists talking about the benefits of turmeric and garlic. Soldiers used garlic during wars. They also knew the importance of turmeric to the immune system and fighting off serious infections.”
Mr Diver began dabbling in the making of the immune boosters, but found he didn’t have the time he needed to invest fully in it with campaigning.
However, when four 100% Redress Councillors were elected to Donegal County Council and a TD to the Dáil, Mr Diver said he seized the opportunity to delve further into the enterprise.
“I was back using Arcoxia tablets, I was eating them like smarties to survive because of the pain I was in.
“The world is changing and people are starting to believe more about health and immune boosters. We started on a small scale, from a household blender, to staff, to delivery drivers.
“The bottle is stocked in Cork, Monaghan and Derry to name a few counties.”
Mr Diver said feedback to ‘Paddy’s Powerful Bottle’ has been “amazing”.
“If anyone is skeptical, I would urge them to try these bottles. If anyone is in pain, or suffering with a sore knee for a long time, give it a month you’ve nothing to lose.”
The bottles are priced very reasonably at €12 when purchased via Mr Diver by postage. The product is posted all over Ireland and England.
“The bottle will last for seven to 10 days with people consuming 70ml a day.”
Impressively, the product will be promoted at the All Stars in March 2026.
“We’ve massive belief that this helps boost athletic performances. There are so many different people that this is aimed at; it is aimed at the elderly who have Osteoporosis, and it is aimed at athletes too.
“It’s a beetroot orientated bottle and on the one hand, people are getting the ginger and turmeric to keep inflammation away from their body and on the other hand they’re
getting beetroot into them which opens up the pores and helps circulation.”
Mr Diver urged people to check out the glowing reviews on Facebook and Tik Tok
“A lot of life is about habits, and if you can open your fridge and have a bottle in there with all the ingredients you need to boost your health why not try it out?,” said Mr Diver.
