Grace O'Sullivan
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- Ireland: Green Party
- EU: European Green Party
Grace O'Sullivan | |
|---|---|
 O'Sullivan in 2019 | |
| Member of the European Parliament | |
| In office 2 July 2019 – 17 July 2024 | |
| Constituency | South |
| Senator | |
| In office 8 June 2016 – 1 July 2019 | |
| Constituency | Agricultural Panel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 March 1962 Tramore, County Waterford, Ireland |
| Party |
|
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | |
| Website | graceosullivan |
Grace O'Sullivan (born 8 March 1962) is an Irish politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the South constituency from 2019 until 2024. She is a member of the Green Party, and part of the European Green Party. She previously served as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel from 2016 to 2019.[1]
O'Sullivan is also known for her activism during a 20-year career with Greenpeace having served on the crew of the Rainbow Warrior when it was bombed in New Zealand in 1985 by French Intelligence. She is a former Irish surfing champion and has worked for a number of years as an environmental education specialist and ecologist.[2][3]
Initially elected in the 2019 European Parliament elections, O'Sullivan lost her seat in the 2024 European elections.[4]
O'Sullivan was born in County Waterford in Ireland, where she grew up in Tramore, close to the back strand and the surrounding countryside, an environment which she says was influential on her life and appreciation of nature and the sea.[5]
As a result of growing up near the sea, O'Sullivan was involved in water and nature-based activities from a young age.[6] She joined Tramore Sea and Cliff Rescue at the age of 16, and by the age of 18 was a helmsman with the Tramore RNLI.[5] She spent some time as a lifeguard with Waterford County Council, patrolling Tramore beach during the summer months.[7]
She was a keen sportsperson at school, learning to surf where she grew up. In the late 1970s, O'Sullivan began to surf competitively and became Ireland's first national female surf champion in 1981.[5]
O'Sullivan is a mother of three, an environmental activist and educationalist and a Green Party politician.[6] Her sister Lola O'Sullivan is a Fine Gael Waterford City and County Councillor.[8]
Greenpeace
O'Sullivan's interest in activism, the environment and the sea led to her taking up a position with Greenpeace in 1983, when she was 21 years old.[citation needed] She spent the next 20 years working with the organisation in areas that included almost 10 years on various Greenpeace ships. She was a crew member of the original Rainbow Warrior when it was bombed in New Zealand in 1985 by French Intelligence.[9][10] O'Sullivan had been sailing from Florida to Hawaii on the Rainbow Warrior, and went to several small island nations in the Pacific Ocean, taking part in actions for peace and climate justice.[10] On the night of the bombing, two French agents detonated limpet mines and sank the ship as it sat in Auckland Harbour. One crew member died from the bombing, Fernando Pereira, a photographer and friend of O'Sullivan's.[10]
In 1986 O'Sullivan famously attempted to board a Soviet warship in the Mediterranean, by climbing up the anchor chain barefoot in an attempt to protest against the nuclear warheads on board.[11] The purpose of the action was to highlight how close Russian and American vessels carrying nuclear weapons were to populations around the Mediterranean.[10]
O'Sullivan has travelled twice to Antarctica as part of Greenpeace's mission to get a seat in the Antarctic Treaty Nations, in order to convince global leaders of having Antarctica protected as a world park,[12] as well as blocking the construction of a French military airstrip on the continent.[13]
She spent a number of years working for Greenpeace at its Amsterdam offices,[7] including time as assistant to Campaign Director and as Human Resources Manager for Greenpeace International.[14] In addition to working full-time at Greenpeace, O'Sullivan also completed a post graduate diploma in Business Enterprise Development at Waterford Institute of Technology[15] and a diploma in Field Ecology at University College Cork.[13]
