A cousin of Michael Collins, Gearóid O’Sullivan was a member of the radical Keating branch of the Gaelic League and joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913. He served as Aide de Camp to Sean MacDiarmada during the Easter Rising, helping to raising the tricolour over the GPO on Easter Monday. Interned in Frongoch until December 1916, he served in the Carlow Brigade of the IRA during the War of Independence. He was promoted to Adjutant General of the IRA in February 1920 and became Lieutenant General with the government army following the split over the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922. He resigned his position following the Army Mutiny in 1924. O’Sullivan was first elected to the Dáil in 1921 as a representative of Carlow/Kilkenny, and later won a seat in Dublin County for Cumann na nGaedhal in 1927, a year in which he was also appointed as Judge Advocate General. He held this post until 1932 and retired from politics five years later.
Do you have information about this person you would like to share?
