Grace O'Sullivan


Grace O'Sullivan is an Irish politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament from Ireland for the South constituency since July 2019. She is a member of the Green Party, part of the European Green Party. She previously served as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel from 2016 to 2019.
O'Sullivan is also known for her activism during a 20-year career with Greenpeace. She is a former Irish surfing champion and has worked for a number of years as an environmental education specialist and ecologist.

Biography

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.
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. She spent some time as a lifeguard with Waterford County Council, patrolling Tramore beach during the summer months.
She was a keen sportsperson at school, and became Ireland's first National Female Surf Champion in 1981.
In 1983, she took up a position with Greenpeace, and spend 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. She was involved in many campaigns covering a range of environmental and peace issues. She spent a number of years working for Greenpeace at its Amsterdam offices, including time as assistant to Campaign Director and as Human Resources Manager for Greenpeace International.
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.

Political career

She ran as the Green MEP candidate for the Ireland South constituency in the 2014 European election, being eliminated on the 7th count with approximately 4% of first preference votes.
She was elected as a Senator in 2016, and sat with 5 other senators in the Civil Engagement group.
O'Sullivan was elected at the 2019 European Parliament election for the South constituency. She received 75,946 first-preference votes. She was elected on the 18th count after a recount of the votes between her and outgoing MEP Liadh Ni Riada.
Her sister Lola O'Sullivan is a Fine Gael Waterford City and County Councillor.