Gearóid O'Sullivan

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Gearóid O'Sullivan (1891 – 5 August 1994) was an Irish teacher, army officer, barrister and Sinn Féin and Fine Gael politician.

O'Sullivan was a native of County Cork. While living in Dublin he followed his cousin, Michael Collins, into the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and the Gaelic League. During the 1916 Easter Rising he served at the General Post Office, the youngest officer to serve there. He was given the honour to raise the Irish flag over the building.

After the Rising he was interned in Frongoch in Wales with Collins and others. Upon release he resumed his involvement with the IRB. During the War of Independence he was one of the adjutant-generals of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Republican Army and one of Collins’ closest confidantes. At one stage, there was a £3,500 bounty on his head.

At the 1921 general election, he was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) to the Second Dáil for the constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny. He was re-elected at the 1922 general election as a Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin TD. During the Irish Civil War he served as adjutant-general of the National Army. He did not contest the 1923 general election as he had been elected to Senate of the Irish Free State in 1922. After the war, he left military life to work as a teacher.

In 1927, after the assassination of the then Minister for Justice Kevin O'Higgins, O’Sullivan contested the resulting by-election in the Dublin County on August 25 and retained the seat for Cumann na nGaedhael. He was re-elected at the three subsequent three general elections for the party in the same constituency. He unsuccessfully contested the 1937 general election for Fine Gael In 1938 he was re-elected to Seanad Éireann but was unsuccessful in the 1939 Seanad election. He qualified as a barrister and commenced a legal career.

He died on 5 August 1994, the last surviving member of the Second Dáil.

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This page incorporates information from the Oireachtas Members Database