Grace O'Sullivan

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.[4]

As a result of growing up near the sea, O’Sullivan was involved in water and nature-based activities from a young age.[5] 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.[4] She spent some time as a lifeguard with Waterford County Council, patrolling Tramore beach during the summer months.[6]

She was a keen sportsperson at school, learning to surf where she grew up. In the late 1970s, O'Sullivan she began to surf competitively and became Ireland's first national female surf champion in 1981.[4]

O'Sullivan is a mother of three, an environmental activist and educationalist and a Green Party MEP for Ireland South.[7] Her sister Lola O'Sullivan is a Fine Gael Waterford City and County Councillor.[8]

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. 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.[11] 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]

On the night of the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, in 1985, 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. [14]

She spent a number of years working for Greenpeace at its Amsterdam offices,[6] including time as assistant to Campaign Director and as Human Resources Manager for Greenpeace International.[15] 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[16] and a diploma in Field Ecology at University College Cork. [17]

O'Sullivan ran as the Green MEP candidate for the Ireland South constituency in the 2014 European election,[18] being eliminated on the 7th count with approximately 4% of first preference votes.[19] She was elected as a Senator in 2016, and sat with 5 other senators in the Civil Engagement group.[20]

O’Sullivan is a member of the Green Party in Ireland, and was a member of the Agricultural Panel when she served as a Senator. She was also the Green Party Spokesperson on Tourism and the Marine.[21] She was a sponsor of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018, tabled by Senator Frances Black, which sought to prohibit the import of goods produced on illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

• Official website
• Grace O'Sullivan's page on the Green Party website
• Personal profile of Grace O'Sullivan in the European Parliament's database of members