Christy O'Sullivan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christy O'Sullivan (born 27 November 1948) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician from Clonakilty in County Cork.[1] He is currently a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork South West constituency.

O'Sullivan first stood for public office at the 1999 local elections, when he stood as independent in the Skibbereen Local Electoral Area and won a seat on Cork County Council. He contested the 2002 general election in Cork South West as an independent, when he won won over 10% of the votes but was not elected.[2]

He was re-elected to the County Council at the 2004 local elections,[2] and in January 2007 he joined Fianna Fáil, and was imposed as a Fianna Fáil candidate for the 2007 general election, without a selection conference.[3] His popularity as a local councillor was hoped to strengthen the party's hopes of retaining the two seats which it had won in the three-seat constituency in 2002, and O'Sullivan was seen as a strong candidate to succeed Joe Walsh, who was retiring after 30 years in Dáil Éireann.

The strategy partly worked. Fianna Fáil increased its share of the vote, with O'Sullivan topped the poll, and he was the first candidate to win a seat. However, his colleague Denis O'Donovan, who had won a seat from Fine Gael in 2002, was defeated after just one term in the Dáil.[4]

Under the Local Government Act 2001, O'Sullivan vacated his council seat when elected to the Dáil. His son Christopher was then co-opted to the County Council in his place.

He was arrested on suspicion of drink driving on 2 June 2008, he has apologised after failing a breath test near Clonakilty.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mr. Christy O'Sullivan. Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved on 2008-03-12.
  2. ^ a b Christy O'Sullivan's electoral history. ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved on 2008-03-12.
  3. ^ Liam Reid and Barry Roche. "Independent councillor in Cork South West declares for Fianna Fáil", The Irish Times, 30 January 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-12. 
  4. ^ Con Downing. "Cork South West", The Irish Times, 28 May 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-12. 
  5. ^ "Cork TD embarrassed at drink drive arrest", RTÉ News, 2008-06-04. Retrieved on 2008-06-05. 

[edit] External links

Oireachtas
Preceded by
Joe Walsh
(Fianna Fáil)		 Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála for
Cork South West
2007 – present		 Incumbent
 This article about a politician from Ireland is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.