Roberta O'Brien is the highest ranking woman in the Irish navy and the first woman to captain her own ship, and then to achieve the rank of

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

Biography

Roberta O'Brien was born in the Glen of Aherlow in Tipperary c. 1977. She was educated in the Lisvernane National School and St Anne's Secondary School in

Tipperary Town Tipperary (; ), commonly known as Tipperary Town, is a town and a civil parish in County Tipperary, Ireland. Its population was 4,979 at the 2016 census. It is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, ...

. O'Brien played on the Glen of Aherlow boys

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

team until she was fourteen. She joined in the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

in 1995 with Orla Farrell, the only other woman to join, when it was first permitted. O'Brien qualified, with a science degree from

University College Galway The University of Galway () is a public university, public research university located in the city of Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Ga ...

in 2000. O'Brien later also studied in

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

. O'Brien holds a master's degree in Leadership Management and Defence Studies and a HDip in management and marketing. Her uncle and his father worked in the Navy. O'Brien married another serviceman Peadar Ó Catháin, with whom she has three children. In 2008, O'Brien became the captain of the

LÉ Aisling LÉ ''Aisling'' (; meaning " dream, vision"), now known as ''Al-Karama'', was a patrol vessel in the Irish Naval Service from 1980 to 2016. She was built in Verolme Dockyard, Cork, Ireland in 1979 and originally named after Patrick Pearse's poem ...

, becoming the first woman to become a captain in the Irish Navy. She became the first woman to be appointed a commander in the Irish Navy in 2020.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Roberta Alumni of the University of Galway 1977 births Living people 21st-century Irish women Military personnel from County Tipperary Irish Naval Service personnel Female military personnel