MINISTER FOR EDUCATION & SKILLS
JULY 2014 – MAY 2016
`It sounds clichéd but I actually wanted to get involved in shaping my local community.' Jan O'Sullivan interviewed by Owen McQuade for `A Vision for Planning.' Eolas, August 2013
Minister of State for Trade and Development, at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, March 2011 - December 2011.
Minister of State at Environment, with responsibility for Housing and Planning, December 2011- July 2014. Minister for Education and Skills, July 2014 - May 2016.
In her “super junior” ministerial position at the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, with responsibility for housing, Jan O’Sullivan sat at Cabinet, but did not have a vote. One of her key achievements as Minister of State for Housing and Planning was to keep the money flowing for the regeneration of disadvantaged areas during the economic crisis.
Jan O'Sullivan had no family involved in politics.
Jan entered politics because of her conviction that State intervention was needed to redress imbalances in opportunities arising from circumstances of birth.
She got to know Jim Kemmy, then an independent and began to canvas for him.
Jan was a founding member of the Democratic Socialist Party. She was known as one of Jim Kemmy’s Feminists. ‘Kemmy’s Femmies’ was the name given by opponents to those who helped to run Limerick’s first family-planning clinic in the 1970s.
Jan ran with Eleanor Goodison in the local election in 1985 - the fact that two women from the same party ran in the one electoral area was very unusual for the time.
Jan campaigned for women’s rights to contraception, equal pay and other equality issues.
She was elected to Limerick City Council in 1985.
She was part of the negotiating team with Jim Kemmy when the Democratic Socialist Party merged with the Labour Party in 1990. As Jim Kemmy’s running mate in 1992, Jan came within a few hundred votes of taking a second Dáil seat for Labour.
Jan served as Mayor of Limerick from 1993 to 1994.
In 1993, she was elected to the Seanad and became leader of the Labour Group in Seanad Éireann.
She was a member of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation 1996-1997.
Jan was established as the natural successor to Jim Kemmy following his death in 1997. She won the by-election in March 1998. Jim’s brother, Joe Kemmy, had been his second in command, but it was acknowledged that Jan had done the apprenticeship on the County Council and it was her turn.
In the 1999 local elections, Jan O’Sullivan became Limerick’s First Alderwoman (and its last, as the title was abolished by the Local Government Act 2001).
In Dáil Éireann, Jan was a member of the Joint Committees on Justice and also Equality and Women’s Rights, from 1999.
Jan O'Sullivan was elected to Dáil Éireann in the General Election, 2002.
She was Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee on Education and Science from 2002; a member of the All-Party Committee on the Constitution, 2002; and a member of the Joint Committee on the Constitution, 2-31 July 2003.
During 2004, Jan highlighted the extent of the special needs crisis in schools. 350 special needs teaching posts were subsequently created by the Government.
Jan O'Sullivan was elected to Dáil Éireann in the General Election, 2007.
Jan served as Vice Chair on the Joint Committee on Health and Children, 2007-2011.
She contested the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party in 2007 and polled well.
Jan O'Sullivan was elected to Dáil Éireann in the General Election, 2011.
Jan O'Sullivan was elected to Dáil Éireann in the General Election, 2016.
She was a member of the Joint Committee on the 8th Amendment,2017.
Jan is currently Labour Party spokesperson on Housing, Planning and Local Government, and Business, Enterprise and Innovation.
Janice Gale was born on 6 December 1950 in Limerick city. Her father, Edward Norman Gale (known as Ted), was a journalist, and her mother, Alice Patricia Ralph (known as Pat) was from a farm in North Tipperary, she first came to Limerick as a teacher. Jan grew up in Clonlara, County Clare six miles outside Limerick City.
Jan was educated in Limerick City, attending St Michael’s Primary School in Pery Square and, later, Villiers School, on the North Circular Road. Her mother returned to work when Jan went to secondary school.
Jan completed her Bachelor of Arts (Mod) Degree in Trinity College in 1972.
She then obtained her Higher Diploma in Education from University College Cork (UCC) in 1973. She worked as a Secondary Teacher in Villers School.
Jan Gale married Dr Paul O’Sullivan, a Catholic, in 1974. Jan and her husband initially lived in Canada. Their first child, Emily was born in Canada in January 1977. While in Canada Jan trained as a Montessori Pre-School Teacher. Later she obtained Diploma from St Nicholas Montessori.
Their second child, a son, Paddy was born in October 1979 after their return to Ireland.
Jan set up a Montessori Pre-School and became active in politics in the evenings.
She is grandmother to Jamie, Noah, Faye, Alice and Finn.
Members of the Labour Party with Leader Pat Rabbitte 2002-2007 (front row centre) female members include Liz McManus Deputy Leader 2002-2007. Second row left to right; Joan Burton TD, Jan O’Sullivan TD and Kathleen Lynch TD, third row: Kathleen O’Meara (Senator), Fourth row left to right Roísín Shorthall TD (Senator) and Mary Upton TD.