O'Sullivan was born in Clonlara, County Clare, in 1950. She was educated at Villiers Secondary School, Limerick, where her father was a journalist. After graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, she took a Higher Diploma in Education at University College Cork. After working as a teacher for a short period of time, she studied as a Montessori teacher while living in Canada. After returning to Ireland, in the late 1970s, O'Sullivan helped to run Limerick's Family planning clinic. A member of the Church of Ireland, she married a Roman Catholic, Paul O'Sullivan, with whom she has one daughter and one son. She chose to spend time at home while having her children and once they were in school she ran a playgroup in the mornings, spent time with the children in the afternoon and did political work in the evenings.
Political career
Democratic Socialist: 1982–1990
O'Sullivan entered politics in 1982, by joining the Democratic Socialist Party, a small party founded by Limerick TD Jim Kemmy, who had previously been a member of the Labour Party. There had been no political tradition in her family—her parents had supported different parties—and her choice of party was based on her support for Kemmy's anti-nationalist stance on Northern Ireland, and his advocacy of family planning services and a pro-choice approach to abortion. O'Sullivan was elected to Limerick City Council in 1985, she also served as a member of the Mid-Western Health Board from 1991 to 2003.
Labour: 1990s
O'Sullivan joined the Labour Party when the DSP merged with Labour in 1990, having been one of the DSP's negotiators in the merger discussions. At the 1992 general election, as the running-mate of the DSP's founder Jim Kemmy, she narrowly missed winning a second seat for Labour in Limerick East. In 1993, she was elected to the 20th Seanad on the Administrative Panel, and became leader of the Labour group in Seanad Éireann. From 1993 to 1994, O'Sullivan was Mayor of Limerick, and her religion twice became an issue in 1994, when she was prevented from opening a Christian Brothers School and from reading a lesson at a mass for Limerick's civic week. However, her religious denomination was not the only issue. Family planning was deeply controversial in Ireland from the 1970s to the 1990s, particularly in Limerick, where Kemmy had lost his Dáil seat at the November 1982 general election, after being denounced by the Catholic Church for his opposition to the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland. Those such as O'Sullivan who were involved in the family planning services which Kemmy had helped found were labelled "Kemmy's Femmies". O'Sullivan was unsuccessful again at the 1997 general election, but after Kemmy's death in September 1997, she was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the by-election in March 1998. She held the seat in a close three-way contest, becoming the first female TD from County Limerick since Kathleen O'Callaghan in 1921. Both the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael candidates in the by-election were also women.
Labour: 2000s
O'Sullivan was re-elected at the 2002, 2007 and 2011 general elections, and at the 1999 local elections became Limerick's first alderwoman. In the 28th Dáil, she was the Labour Party Spokesperson on Justice and Equality and a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality and Women's Rights. In the 29th Dáil, she was Vice-Chair of both the Dáil Select Committee on Education and Science and the Joint Committee on Education and Science, as well as her party's Spokesperson on Education and Science. After Labour's disappointing performance at the 2007 general election, Pat Rabbitte resigned as leader and the outgoing deputy leader, Liz McManus, did not seek re-election. Eamon Gilmore was elected unopposed as leader, and in a frontbench reshuffle on 16 September 2007 moved O'Sullivan to the high-profile role of Spokesperson for Health. O'Sullivan stood for the Deputy leadership, and was narrowly defeated by Dublin West TD Joan Burton, by 1480 votes to 1276.
Government: 2011–2016
On 10 March 2011, she was appointed as Minister of State for Trade and Development. On 20 December 2011, she was appointed as Minister of State for Housing and Planning. In July 2014, she was appointed Minister for Education and Skills. In March 2015, the Government, with O'Sullivan the Minister responsible, confirmed it would lock away for 75 years any statements it received from victims of child sexual abuse. This decision was criticised by survivors.
Opposition: 2016–2020
O'Sullivan retained her seat in the Dáil, following the 2016 general election, though only six of her Labour colleagues did likewise and the party returned to the opposition benches. O'Sullivan retained her position as Minister for Education and Skills until talks on government formation had concluded and her successor, Richard Bruton, was appointed. She lost her seat at the 2020 general election.
