Sean O'Connor
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Sean O'Connor is co-promoter of Rally Ireland which secured a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) for Ireland which will run from 2007. He is a founder of Graduate Equality and has made both written and oral submissions to the All Party Seanad Reform Committee.
O’Connor is a grandson of former Irish Taoiseach Sean Lemass and will stand as an independent candidate for the Irish Senate on the Trinity College panel in the 2007 election. His electoral campaign is strongly in favour of reform of the upper house, as proposed by the Seanad’s committee on procedure and privileges in 2004. See www.vote4reform.com
In 2005 he launched Rally Ireland, the largest North-South sporting initiative ever undertaken. Research has estimated that hosting this round of the World Rally Championships (WRC) will be worth €46 million on an annual basis to the economy. In addition, this prestigious sporting series has a global annual TV audience of over 800 million people. Rally Ireland aims to become the worlds' first carbon neutral motorsport event by 2010, and so prove that Ireland can become leaders in the area of sustainability.
O'Connor has a strong track record on the environment through his involvement with Tidy Towns and Green Schools. He is also a volunteer with the National Environmental Education Centre (Knocksink) which accommodates visits by 9,000 school children annually.
The Irish WRC bid received broad political support on both sides of the border and across the political divide. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain and Irish Minister for Tourism John O'Donaghue played a critical role in landing the event for 2007 and subsequent years.
He was educated at Terenure College, Dublin and played SCT rugby. Having lived and worked abroad for many years, including the UK and the Middle East, he now lives in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, with his wife and five children.
