Rally Ireland duo to stand down

THE duo responsible for securing Ireland’s entry to the World Rally Championship, Sean O’Connor and Ronan Morgan are to stand down from the promotion and management of Rally Ireland at the end of this month.

The co-founders, who have in excess of 60 years WRC experience between them, launched the North-South event in 2004 at the request for the both Governments.

A pilot WRC event was organised in October 2005, followed by what proved to be a successful WRC candidate rally in 2006.

The Irish bid beat off strong challenges from other countries around the world and Rally Ireland made its debut last November.

The ceremonial start in Stormont Castle was a great success and the Sligo based event was widely acclaimed as one of the best events of the 2007 World Rally Championship.

A statement issued by both Morgan and O’Connor said, ”This has been a massively demanding, but rewarding experience for us over the past four years which saw the project evolve from a feasibility study in 2004 to become one of the best rounds of the World Championship by 2007. The event now has a very strong foundation and it is up to the new CEO, Alex Sinclair, and his vastly experienced colleagues in Motorsport Ireland to take it to the next level. We have every confidence in their capacity to deliver.”

O’Connor and Morgan paid tribute to Peter Hain MP, former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland , Senator Marc McSharry, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan T.D., Ian Paisley Jnr, MLA and Edgar Jardine, Deputy Permanent Secretary of DCAL and the 2007 sponsors, Fáilte Ireland and DCAL.