Seán Bán Breathnach (born 1949) is an Irish radio and television broadcaster and personality. He broadcasts primarily in the medium of the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

Early life and career

Born in the

Connemara Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, ...

area of

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, Breathnach moved to the United Kingdom as a teenager and worked as a DJ at discos in London. After returning to Ireland, he worked for Radio Éireann in the late 1960s.

Broadcasting

When he was 19 years old in 1969, Breathnach presented the first Irish language pop music programme on Raidió Éireann. Shortly afterwards he presented his first television show, ''Imeall'', a bilingual folk music show. In 1975, he had the lead role in Bob Quinn's first feature Irish-language drama, ''Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoire''. He hosted the show ''SBB ina Shuí'' with Gráinne Gleoite from 1976 to 1982. This became the highest-rated Irish-language television programme at the time, coming first in TAM ratings in 1979. Over the coming years, Breathnach presented several television and radio programmes and documentaries for the state broadcasting corporation Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), the Irish-language broadcaster TG4 and the RTÉ national-regional station RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. He is also known for his radio sports coverage. In 1978, he was appointed to RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta staff. He worked mainly with the sports department and has presented the station's flagship sports programme, ''Spórt an tSathairn'' for several years. In 1991, Breathnach won a

Jacob's Award The Jacob's Awards were instituted in December 1962 as the first Irish television awards. Later, they were expanded to include radio. The awards were named after their sponsor, W. & R. Jacob & Co. Ltd., a biscuit manufacturer, and recipients ...

for his sports commentaries on Raidió na Gaeltachta. Other work in television has included the community based programme ''Eadrainn Féin'' (1984–1986) and ''Scaoil Amach an Bobailín'' with Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (1990–1993). Since the formation of TG4, Breathnach has also been involved in programmes such as ''Cleamhnas'' and a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

programme which covered the possible influence of

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

on the game. In February 2007, Breathnach began presenting an hour-long music documentary ''Siar agus Aniar'', on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. Later in 2007, he took part in

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís ...

's ''Charity You're A Star'' to raise money and awareness for the Carers Association of Ireland. He was the runner-up.

Personal life

Breathnach lives in Indreabhan,

Cois Fharraige (, lit. "Beside the Sea"/ "Seaside"), previously spelled , is a coastal area west of Galway city, where the Irish language is the predominant language (a ). It stretches from , , to . There are between 8,000 and 9,000 people living in this ar ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

. He is married with four children. His wife Brighid is from another Gaeltacht area in

County Waterford County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. Waterford City and County Council is the local authority for t ...

(An Rinn). His twin children Léan and Cárthach Bán Breathnach both had acting roles in the TG4 series ''

Aifric ''Aifric'' () is an Irish-language TV series aimed at young adults, co-created and written by Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin and co-created and directed by Paul Mercier. The show has won multiple IFTA awards for "Best Children's/Youth Program". The fir ...

''. His eldest daughter Brighid is a television producer, and his second eldest daughter Katie is a teacher.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breathnach, Sean Ban Living people 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Irish radio presenters Irish sports broadcasters Irish television personalities TG4 presenters Jacob's Award winners People from County Galway You're a Star contestants RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta presenters 1949 births

Early life and career

Broadcasting

Personal life

See also

References