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 Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

Early life and career

Born in the

Connemara Connemara ( ; ) is a region on the Atlantic Ocean, 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 County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, 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 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

and the RTÉ national-regional station

RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (; "Radio of the Gaeltacht"), abbreviated RnaG, is an Irish language radio station owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The station is available on FM in Ireland and via satellite and on the inter ...

. He is also known for his radio sports coverage. In 1978, he was appointed to

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 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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

programme which covered the possible influence of

Celts The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

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 is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by RTÉ. It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís Éireann'' on 31 December 1961, it was renamed ''R ...

'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 in

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

County Waterford County Waterford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. ...

(An Rinn). His twin children Léan and Cárthach Bán Breathnach both had acting roles in the TG4 series '' Aifric''. 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 Irish radio presenters Irish sports broadcasters Irish television personalities TG4 presenters Jacob's Award winners Broadcasters from County Galway RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta presenters 1949 births

Early life and career

Broadcasting

Personal life

See also

References