Dr Luke Clancy is on the couch this week.
Occupation: Chest physician who wants clean air for all.
Personal/Family: Married to Peggy with three grown-up sons.
What figure from the world of health/medicine do you most admire? Sir John Crofton, an Irishman living in Edinburgh, who made a huge contribution to TB control and helped to establish the Control Clinical Trial in medical research.
What alternative career might you have chosen? I enjoy every day of my medical life and would not trade but could have been happy watching changes in nature or the environment, perhaps as a farmer or in architecture.
Do you have a phobia/what is your greatest fear? No real phobias and fear is an emotion I try not to allow influence me unduly.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one? Only at home and I'm told I'm an awful patient.
You have been appointed Minister for Health, what will your first priority be? To convince the public and my cabinet colleagues that prevention is better than cure but it doesn't come easy and it doesn't come cheap.
What three books would you bring to a desert island? None, but I would load my laptop with photos of loved ones, music and a satellite connection.
Have you a fail-safe method of dealing with stress? Welcome it and use it to identify problems and find solutions.
What is your favourite TV or radio programme? Football, music and chat (I'm afraid).
If you did not live in Ireland, where would you choose to spend the rest of your life? Chicago architecture is exciting. Nice is my favourite break destination, but a gentle Cheshire village would be my home choice, civilised and close to Ireland.
Summarise yourself in 12 words? Bald, determined, vigilant, forgiving but not forgetting, emotional, happy, compassionate, energetic, optimistic.
Do you use alternative medicine/ therapies? I don't but I have no problem with physical therapies that people enjoy, however, I would not substitute an untested chemical for an approved medicine.
Who or what makes you laugh? Comedy that helps us see how ridiculous we are, particularly when we are snobbish, pompous or proud. But more Fawlty Towers, than Ricky Gervais.