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Shock and sadness at passing of Craig Breen

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World Rally Championship driver Craig Breen, a former winner of the Rally of the Lakes, lost his life in a tragic testing accident today.

Craig, who was 33, was Ireland’s top rally driver and a full-time professional competing with the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team in the World Rally Championship.

A prodigious karter in his younger years, Breen started competing in rallying in 2006 as a co-driver before making the switch to the drivers’ seat in 2008.

His rise thereafter was nothing short of spectacular. In 2009 he made his first foray into the World Rally Championship, winning his class and finishing 25th overall on Rally Portugal. In that same year, Craig won both the Irish and UK Fiesta Sporting Trophies, was crowned Irish National Junior Rally Champion and won the Billy Coleman Award, the youngest driver to do so. In 2010 Breen competed in the Irish and British championships and won the Pirelli Star Driver Global Shootout Final. Winning the Pirelli Star Driver Shootout afforded Breen the chance to compete in the World Rally Championship in the WRC Academy series in 2011 which he dramatically won on the final stage of the final round netting him a €500,000 prize fund.

In 2012 Breen won the Super 2000 World Rally Championship despite the tragic death of his long time co-driver and friend Gareth Roberts in an accident half way through the season.

A factory seat with Peugeot was secured for 2013 and Breen would stay with the French marque for three seasons securing four European Rally Championship event wins including a memorable Circuit of Ireland win in 2015 which saw him emulate the 1992 feat of his motorsport hero, the late Frank Meagher. For the 2016 season, Breen signed with Citroen to drive in six rounds of the World Rally Championship. In his first season in a top car, in the top flight of the sport, he scored a memorable podium finish with a superb third place on Rally Finland.

In 2018 Breen was on the podium again, this time going one step higher with a second place in Rally Sweden.

Without a factory contract for 2019, Breen returned to Ireland and reunited with co-driver Paul Nagle with the pair having pulled together a deal to tackle the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. They dominated the series winning the Galway, West Cork, Killarney, Easter Stages and Ulster rallies while also winning the iconic San Remo and Ypres rallies on the continent. A call up to Hyundai half way through the season would see a return to top flight competition and despite truncated campaigns with the Korean manufacturer, Breen was always on the pace and regularly on the podium including three consecutive podiums in three events (Estonia, Ypres and Finland) in 2021.

The lure of a full-time seat with M-Sport as the sport entered a new hybrid era was too much for Breen to turn down but after a strong start to the season in Monte Carlo, results were hard to come by and Breen returned to Hyundai for 2023 taking another second place on his first event back with the team in Sweden.

Whenever he got the chance, Craig still continued to compete on local events in Ireland and in recent months, support younger drivers. Earlier this year a sponsorship deal was announced that would see him directly supporting the Junior 1000 category within the Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship and as recently as last Tuesday, he attended a J1000 tuition day where 18 young drivers got to meet and learn from their hero. Craig was a model competitor and there was no greater advocate for Irish motorsport.

Speaking on today’s tragic news Motorsport Ireland President said; “The Irish motorsport community is numbed by this tragic news. Craig was a world class driver and a world class person. To Craig’s family, his parents Ray and Jackie, his sister Kellie, brother-in-law Darragh and nephew Bobbie, I wish to extend my deepest condolences and all our thoughts remain with Craig’s co-driver James Fulton. May they all find the strength and support they need at this unimaginably tragic time.”

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School Dayz St Brendan’s students donate to Kerry Hospice

Students from St Brendan’s College have given €600 to Kerry Hospice. The money was raised from their book, ‘Futures from the Past’ which was published in April 2024. Teacher Mary […]

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Students from St Brendan’s College have given €600 to Kerry Hospice.

The money was raised from their book, ‘Futures from the Past’ which was published in April 2024.
Teacher Mary Denise Lyons and students Divo Lucic Kovacevii, Michéal McElligott, and Jaroslav Stetsenko handed over the funds to Cathal Walshe of Kerry Hospice.
‘Futures from the Past’ is a book written by current and retired writers, as well as students from St Brendan’s College.
This donation is the second from the book, with €800 donated last year and €600 this year.
The book was created to allow students to use their imaginations to explore the past and think about the future. It involved students from Poetry Ireland’s Writers-In-Schools Programme and adult learners from Kerry Education & Training Board’s Community Education Creative Writing group.
The book was launched at St Brendan’s College in April last year and was made possible with support from Poetry Ireland and the Arts Office of Kerry County Council.
‘Futures from the Past’ is available for sale at St Brendan’s College for €9.

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Community College TY students become qualified baristas

School Dayz Transition Year students at Killarney Community College spent last Tuesday learning the skills to become baristas. They completed a full-day training course and are now qualified to make […]

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School Dayz

Transition Year students at Killarney Community College spent last Tuesday learning the skills to become baristas.

They completed a full-day training course and are now qualified to make coffee, which could make them very employable in local cafes and restaurants this summer.
Their teachers, who are described as the school’s “resident coffee experts,” were impressed with the students’ hard work and enjoyed the lattes, cappuccinos, and Americanos the students made throughout the day.
In addition to their barista training, the TY students also took a trip to Mallow. There, they learned about the rules of the road, practiced the driver theory test, and many got behind the wheel of a car for the first time. They also learned about the dangers of speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

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