Adj. Gen. Gearoid O'Sullivan 
Members of the squad and others with Adj. Gen. Gearoid O'Sullivan (standing) L to R :- Joe Leonard, (Dublin Brigade member) Joe Slattery, Joe Dolan, William Stapleton. (Squad members): Charlie Dalton (Dublin Brigade member)
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. 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. 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.
OK, so the photo is not of Gearoid but of Ned Daly. Also, Gearoid died in 1948. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAlso, he did not "follow" his cousin into the Volunteers. He joined on the night the Volunteers were formed. He had been active in the IRB movement since 1914, was Sean Mac Diarmada's trusted friend (and aide de camp/bodyguard during the Rising) and was involved in some incredible escapades in gun running around then with his best friends Fionan Lynch and Diarmuid O'Hegarty (while Collins was still working in London). These three men probably taught Collins a thing or two about spy games/hiding in plain sight/remaining cool under pressure -- they had years of experience doing it prior to the Rising.
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