An Irish inventor has been given funding from the 'Dragon's Den' for his covered clothes line.

Design engineer Colin O'Brien appeared on the BBC programme in the UK on Thursday night and got the go-ahead for his rain-proof washing line.

PeggyRain was inspired by his mother who asked him to invent something that would stop her having to run out to bring in the washing every time it rained.

Mr O'Brien also showed the Dragons a suitcase, which doesn't make noise rolling along cobbled streets, called the Rollaer.

He told Moncrieff it has been "phenomenal" since the show aired.

"That was actually six months ago when we did the 'Dragon's Den'; I'm a good talker and I had to hold my whisht for six months," he said.

"You're not allowed to say anything about it until the show goes out, which was last night.

"We're able to tell the full story with everything now and [we're] absolutely delighted".

Colin O'Brien with PeggyRain on 'Dragon's Den'

Mr O'Brien said what viewers saw was only a tiny element of his pitch.

"What you saw last night was a small snippet; I was actually in there for an hour and 10 in the Den getting grilled.

"The only thing I was worried about was the numbers - I'm a good design engineer, but the numbers wouldn't be my forte.

"I got through it and we got a great result out of it, so delighted".

Mr O'Brien said the PeggyRain got spotted by the BBC and it went on from there.

"The BBC picked up a TikTok I had for PeggyRain, and then we said we'd go on with the two products," he said.

"So, we went to the BBC in Manchester with PeggyRain and Rollaer last May.

"We'd done the Dragon's Den, I was in at like 5.30, we pitched and then I met up with the Dragons straight away afterwards.

"We'd a call with his factories at 5am the next morning, so it was straight away kicking off".

Colin O'Brien with PeggyRain

Mr O'Brien said explained how the PeggyRain works.

"You hang out your washing like you normally would, and what we have is a little cotton tablet that goes inside it," he said.

"If that gets wet it'll sense the rain and it then releases the cover.

"It's not electronic, I wanted to keep it very environmentally-friendly and keep the costs low.

"The little cotton tablets they get wet and when they expand they just release the cover, and it pulls across like a curtain."

Mr O'Brien said the PeggyRain was named for his mother, Margaret.

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