Siobhán O'Sullivan

Siobhán's path into outdoor accessibility wasn't planned — it started with her mother. After knee surgery in 2009, her mum struggled to find walking routes that didn't feel impossible. That frustration sparked something in Siobhán. She realized there wasn't a systematic way for older people to discover which Irish paths were actually accessible, which ones had decent facilities, and which ones were honestly just too steep or rough.

That's what drove her Environmental Management degree at UCD, which she completed in 2010. It wasn't about academic achievement — it was about having the tools to solve a real problem. After graduating, she spent three years with Failte Ireland assessing trail infrastructure. Those years taught her how tourism bodies think about paths, but more importantly, they taught her that assessments done from an office don't match reality on the ground.

In 2013, she decided to go independent. For two years she basically lived outdoors, walking every major lakeside path in Ireland with a notebook, measuring distances, testing surfaces, talking to walkers about what actually mattered to them. The breakthrough came in 2015 when she published her Lough Derg guide. It wasn't fancy — just honest detail about each route. Walking clubs adopted it. Tourism boards used it. That's when she knew she was onto something.

gotovaridesk Limited brought her on in 2019, and she's been expanding her research ever since. Now she covers Lough Corrib, Muckross Lake, and keeps adding to the Derg work. She's also working with Age Action Ireland and the Irish Senior Citizens' Council on accessibility guidelines that actually matter. What drives her now is the same thing that started it all — the belief that age shouldn't be a barrier to experiencing Ireland's natural beauty. She approaches each route with the same care she'd want someone to show her own mother.