Waterford's Grace O'Sullivan 'pulls up sleeves' in European campaign
Grace O'Sullivan MEP aboard Greenpeace's MV Sirius in 1984 on a campaign to end Russian whaling.
Single mother-of-three and Greenpeace activist, Grace O’Sullivan, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), will be one of 23 candidates on the ballot paper this June 7 to contest the next election.
Of those candidates, Ms O’Sullivan is the only candidate to hail from Waterford, and she made it her priority to remain heavily involved in the Waterford community over the last five years during her term in Europe.
Ms O’Sullivan, the first female in Ireland to be crowned at the National Irish Surf Championships in 1981, hastily jumped up from her seat to take a stance in the News & Star office during the interview as if she were on a surfboard, and from a particular angle, with the scenery of a beautiful summer's day in the background, it could easily be imagined that she was surfing down the River Suir, where the office overlooks as she spoke about the weekly surfing lessons she gives to children in Tramore.
When asked about her home life and the changes in politics today, Ms O’Sullivan spoke about a more challenging time in her life, which was when she thought she’d have to step away from politics, due to the lack of support from the HSE for her daughter Eimear, who has special needs as they couldn't get a carer for her.
“It was breaking my heart and it was breaking my family's heart because they knew the effort I put in and the work I was doing,” she said.
Ms O’Sullivan explained that a family arrangement with her other two daughters and daughters’ father allowed her the opportunity to continue in her role as a politician.
Ms O’Sullivan sees politics at any level as a “real challenge for women”, and more challenging now with the increasing risk of violence towards them from members of the public, particularly those who do not respect the democratic process and who are associated with far-right movements.
The threats that female politicians receive had Ms O’Sullivan explain the angst that she now feels, and how she can compare that to her time as an activist on international waters in 1985 when the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship of which she was a crew member, was bombed by the French Secret Service and her colleague Fernando Pereira was killed.
"We were a peace ship and we were going to expose their testing of nuclear weapons, they wanted to stop us and they bombed the ship," she said.
When Ms O'Sullivan first became an MEP in 2019, she joined several committees, those being: the committee for Environment, Public Health and Food Safety; a committee on Ocean Health and Fisheries, and she was also the only Irish MEP to be involved with the delegation for relations with Palestine.
"I went over as part of the delegation to Palestine, I met with Palestinians and the situation now is absolutely dire," she explained.
"The way the European Parliament works, is that you work in groups, and you work in your committees. You can go off into the Plenary and you can hot air about what ever you want, or, you can pull up your sleeves, get stuck into the committees and make the legislation that will be meaningful for the 450 million people around the 27 member states," added Ms O'Sullivan.
The case for Waterford Airport is considered to be a very strong one, according to the MEP, as she was asked where she stands on the idea of commercialising the airport, in respect of her position as a Green Party member.
Ms O'Sullivan was asked if there's a "lack of interest" from Minister Ryan, whose Department has had the airport's business case for months now.
"I don't think it's a lack of interest from Eamon Ryan in Waterford. He's got an MEP, a TD and a number of councillors here in Waterford and this would be seen as one of the strongholds of the Green Party in Ireland, so it's definitely not a question of if it comes down to lack of interest," said Ms O'Sullivan.
She added that the Minister's parents resided in Tramore and that it's the overall portfolio of the Minister that needs to be addressed: "One of the things I've been crying for and calling for since I was in the Seanad is, 'please give us a Minister of the Marine'," she said, while noting that other European countries have representatives dedicated solely to that role.
"Waterford has an opportunity to expand in all areas. So be it rail, air, or sea, we have to support all those opportunities," concluded Waterford's MEP candidate.
