Maureen O'Sullivan (born 10 March 1951) is a former Irish

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

politician who served as a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parli ...

(TD) for the Dublin Central constituency from 2009 to 2020.

Early life

A native of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

East Wall East Wall () is an inner city area of the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Built on reclaimed ground in the 1820s, the area is also 30 minutes walk from Dublin's main thoroughfare, O'Connell Street. Location East Wall is bounded by West Road to t ...

, she was educated locally at Mount Carmel school. After completing a BA at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

, she then went on to work as an English and History teacher and

guidance counsellor A school counselor is a professional who works in primary (elementary and middle) schools or secondary schools to provide academic, career, college access/affordability/admission, and social-emotional competencies to all students through a school ...

in a secondary school in

Baldoyle Baldoyle () is a coastal suburb of Dublin's northside. It is located in the southeastern part of the jurisdiction of Fingal, Ireland, developed from a former fishing village. Baldoyle is also a civil parish in the barony of Coolock within t ...

, a position she held for 30 years.

Political career

She was a member of

Tony Gregory Tony Gregory (5 December 1947 – 2 January 2009) was an Irish independent politician, and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Central constituency from 1982 to 2009. Early life Gregory was born in Ballybough on Dublin's Northside, the secon ...

's local political organisation in the 1970s, first canvassing for him and later serving as his election agent. She was co-opted onto

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath) is the authority responsible for local government in the city of Dublin in Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the council was ...

for the North Inner City local electoral area from September 2008 to June 2009, after the retirement of Mick Rafferty. After the death of

, she won the resulting

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

which was held on the same day as the local elections where she also won a seat on Dublin City Council, for the North Inner City local electoral area. Marie Metcalfe was co-opted to take the seat due to the dual mandate rule; subsequently Anna Quigley replaced Metcalfe on Dublin City Council, who was in turn replaced by Mel MacGiobúin in March 2014. MacGiobúin failed to be elected at the local elections held in May. O'Sullivan was re-elected to the Dáil at the 2011 general election. She joined the Dáil

Technical group In politics, a technical group or mixed group is a heterogenous parliamentary group composed of elected officials from political parties of differing ideologies (or independent of any party) who are not numerous enough to form groups on their own. ...

which gave independents and minor parties more speaking time in Dáil debates. She described a proposal for political gender quota legislation as "tokenistic" and that women were able to get themselves nominated for election. In December 2015, Maureen O'Sullivan and fellow independent TDs

Clare Daly Clare Daly (born 16 April 1968) is an Irish politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Dublin constituency since July 2019. She is a member of Independents 4 Change, part of The Left in the European P ...

and

Mick Wallace Michael Wallace (born 9 November 1955) is an Irish politician and former property developer who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the South constituency since July 2019. He is a member of Independents 4 Change, ...

each put forward offers of a €5,000 surety for a 23-year-old man being prosecuted under terrorism legislation in the

Special Criminal Court The Special Criminal Court (SCC; ga, Cúirt Choiriúil Speisialta) is a juryless criminal court in Ireland which tries terrorism and serious organised crime cases. Legal basis Article 38 of the Constitution of Ireland empowers the Dáil to ...

in Dublin charged with membership of an illegal

dissident republican Dissident republicans, renegade republicans, anti-Agreement republicans or anti-ceasefire republicans ( ga, poblachtach easaontach) are Irish republicans who do not support the current peace agreements in Northern Ireland. The agreements follow ...

terrorist organisation. After the 2016 general election she unsuccessfully stood for election as Ceann Comhairle. She joined a

technical group In politics, a technical group or mixed group is a heterogenous parliamentary group composed of elected officials from political parties of differing ideologies (or independent of any party) who are not numerous enough to form groups on their own. ...

aligned with Independents 4 Change, while remaining outside the Independents 4 Change party. O'Sullivan was criticised by the brother of late TD Tony Gregory, over an allegedly false claim made in her election literature. On 16 January 2020, O'Sullivan announced she would not be standing in the February 2020 general election.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osullivan, Maureen 1951 births Living people Alumni of University College Dublin Independent TDs Irish schoolteachers Local councillors in Dublin (city) Members of the 30th Dáil Members of the 31st Dáil Members of the 32nd Dáil 21st-century women Teachtaí Dála Politicians from County Dublin