Latest news with #Breathnach
Irish Independent
6 days ago
- Irish Independent
Adventurers create new Irish award to celebrate achievements of less well-known polar explorers
The Irish Polar Institute has been initiated by a group of sailors and adventurers to celebrate the almost-forgotten achievements of individuals in the Arctic and Antarctic. Sailors Jarlath Cunnane and Paddy Barry, who were leaders of the first global circumnavigation by a yacht via the Arctic polar route (from 2001 to 2005), are among the founding members of the institute. The chair is Máire Breathnach, a musician from Dungarvan, Co Waterford, and the first woman to sail solo around Ireland. We have five great explorers from Co Cork alone Fifteen years ago, she and her niece, Sibéal Turraoin, became the first two Irish women to navigate the Northwest Passage, the ice-bound Arctic route linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Ms Breathnach has also crossed the Atlantic several times and sailed around South America, for which she has been honoured by the Irish Cruising Club. 'It's a great idea,' Ms Breathnach says of the institute. 'We have five great explorers from Co Cork alone who aren't so well known, such as Courtmacsherry's Patrick Keohane, a key member of Robert Scott's Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole.' She also cites Edward Bransfield from Ballinacurra, near Midleton, Co Cork, who was press-ganged into the British navy as a teenager and became first man to sight Antarctica; the Kinsale brothers Mortimer and Tim McCarthy who served with Scott and Shackleton respectively; and Robert Forde of Bandon, who was also part of Scott's Terra Nova expedition and after whom a peak in Antarctica is named. 'Some have statues and stamps named after them, but they are not always remembered now and the new institute plans to recognise them with a medal,' Ms Breathnach said. 'Inevitably the sort of people we will be recognising for their achievements will be male, but in more recent years you have women like Cork doctor Clare O'Leary who was the first Irish female to trek to the South Pole.' The Irish Polar Institute aims to take nominations for its annual award from its members – open to anyone with an interest in polar history and exploration, for just €20 a year.
Belfast Telegraph
23-04-2025
- Belfast Telegraph
Sallins Train Robbery: The IRSP members wrongly imprisoned for IRA heist (Part 1)
Innocent man says he was tortured into a confession by 'The Heavy Gang' and insists State covered it upOsgur Breathnach was 25 at the time, and the editor of the socialist newspaper The Starry Plough, and a member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP). On the night of March 30th, 1976, a gang of armed men held a family hostage in rural County Kildare and derailed a mail train carrying the equivalent of over €1 million in cash and valuables. It was one of the most audacious robberies in the history of the Irish state—but today, it is remembered for very different reasons. What followed was one of the longest and most controversial trials in the history of the Irish state—one that would see Osgur Breatnach's conviction overturned, but not before spending 17 months in Portlaoise prison. The IRA would later claim responsibility for the Sallins robbery, and nearly five decades on, Osgur is still seeking justice for his treatment in the Bridewell Garda station and wrongful conviction. Host; Kevin Doyle. Guest; Osgur Breathnach.
