Dr Muiris Houston interviews the Minister for Health and Children, Micheál Martin.
Occupation: Micheál Martin is Minister for Health and Children.
Personal & Family: Married to Mary. They have four children
What figure from the world of health/medicine do you most admire? Prof Muiris Fitzgerald - dean of the medical faculty in UCD and consultant respiratory physician at St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin.
What alternative career might you have chosen?
Academic career in history.
Do you have a phobia / what is your greatest fear?
No one fear is greater than another.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one?
I fractured my arm as a child and was a patient in the South Infirmary, Cork, and yes, I was a good patient.
What three books would you bring to a desert island?
The Collected Letters of JB Keane, The Sealed Train, by Michael Pearson (a book about Lenin travelling from Germany to USSR) and The Gladfly by Voynich.
Have you a fail-safe method of dealing with stress?
I find swimming in the sea the most therapeutic thing I do and playing with my kids is also a good de-stressor.
What is your favourite TV or radio programme?
On radio; Tonight with Vincent Browne and TV programmes would include Only Fools and Horses and The West Wing.
If you did not live in Ireland where would you chose to spend the rest of your life?
Cork!
Summarise yourself in 12 words?
Committed / optimistic/ tolerant / impatient at times/ sense of perspective/ sense of humour.
Do you use alternative medicine/therapies?
Yes, tea tree oil and I would like to explore more.
Who or what makes you laugh?
Friends, my children and anyone who is a good mimic.