This biography is republished from The Dictionary of Irish Biography and was written by Linde Lunney. Shared by permission in line with Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ (CC BY) licencing.
Born: 8 October 1924, Spain
Died: 1 October 2007
Country most active: Ireland
Also known as: Maria de la Piedad Lucila Hellman de Menchaca
While living in Madrid, Deasún Breatnach met and married (31 July 1947) Maria de la Piedad Lucila Hellman de Menchaca, thereafter Lucy Bhreatnach (1924–2007). She had been born 8 October 1924 in Algorta, Bizkaia (Biscay), in the Basque region of Spain, the daughter of Lucila de Menchaca Dilis, and a German businessman, Franz Heinrich Hellman; she had two brothers. Her family fled Spain during the civil war but later returned. Lucy’s political interests and her facility with languages deepened her husband’s commitment to his own heritage and to the Irish language. Their first son was born in Spain, and he, like the rest of the family (four younger sons and a daughter), was brought up speaking Irish and Spanish. When the family moved to Dublin in 1949, Deasún and Lucy Breatnach and other like-minded parents established the first gaelscoil, or Irish-language-medium school, Scoil Lorcáin, in Blackrock town hall. They had little support from the state, and as they wanted a school open to children of all religious backgrounds, tried to keep influence from established churches to a minimum. Later the Breatnachs helped establish an Irish-medium secondary school, Coláiste Cualann, which, unlike Scoil Lorcáin, did not flourish.