Sadhbh O'Neill
Sadhbh O'Neill is an Irish politician and academic. She was one of the youngest ever elected politicians in Ireland[citation needed] when she won a seat on Dublin City Council in 1991 at the age of 21. As of 2021, she is an assistant professor at Dublin City University (DCU) and a candidate in the 2022 University of Dublin Seanad by-election.
Early life[edit]
O'Neill grew up in Donaghmede on Dublin's north side and attended Gaelscoil Neasáin and Manor House School in Raheny before being admitted to Trinity College, Dublin.[1][better source needed]
Student politics and election[edit]
While at Trinity College, O'Neill joined the newly-formed Green Party student group and was involved in student politics. She stood as a candidate in the 1991 local elections for Dublin City Council,[2] and won an "unexpected" victory,[3] making her one of the youngest elected politicians in the country.[citation needed] At the time of the election, O'Neill had "not even campaigned" and was spending the summer in the United States on a student-work visa,[3] and only became aware of the result after her family were contacted by the media.[citation needed]
In the election count, O'Neill gained just 5.5 per cent of the vote, but she won her seat - by just two votes - because she received strong transfers from other candidates as they were eliminated; by contrast, none the three Fine Gael candidates, who between them scored 14.2 per cent of the vote, were elected.[citation needed] This gave name to the "Sadhbh O'Neill effect" in Ireland's multi-seat STV elections,[citation needed] where a lower-placed, but more transfer-friendly candidate can overtake others placed higher in previous counts.[citation needed]
Her position on Dublin City Council was also notable because it was unusual for participants in student politics to hold elected office outside their University.[citation needed] She ran for Dáil Éireann unsuccessfully in 1992.[4]
Environmental campaigning[edit]
O'Neill resigned from Dublin City Council in 1997 and began a career working for environmental NGOs.[1][better source needed] She was the campaign coordinator with Climate Case Ireland, a legal campaign by Friends of the Irish Environment, which sought to use the courts to force the Irish government to take action on climate change. The case was ultimately unsuccessful in law, but gained wide publicity.[5] O'Neill was also in the public eye when she attended the 2021 CoP26 conference on climate change in Glasgow.[6][better source needed]
Academia[edit]
Since 2021, O'Neill has been an assistant professor at the DCU Centre for Climate & Society, specialising in climate change policy.[citation needed] She is also a PhD candidate at the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin researching climate ethics and carbon trading.[7]
2022 Seanad Éireann by-election[edit]
In November 2021, O'Neill announced that she would be a candidate in the forthcoming by-election for the Trinity College Seanad seat to fill the vacancy left by Ivana Bacik's election to the Dáil.[8] O'Neill and Bacik were contemporaries in Trinity student politics.[citation needed]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Linkedin Profile". Linkedin. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ↑ "Dublin City Council (Donaghmede) 1991 Local Election". IrelandElection. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The new Green councillors you have never heard of before". Irish Times. 25 May 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ↑ "Election Results". Elections Ireland. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ↑ "Climate activists lose High Court case against Government". Irish Times. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ↑ "Google News Search Result for "Sadhbh O'Neill" + COP26". google.ie. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ↑ "DCU Centre for Climate & Society". DCU. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ↑ "Seanad by-election set to cost over €500k". Irish Times. 16 November 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
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