Maureen Fallon National breastfeeding co-ordinator, Department of Health and Children.
Personal/family: One brother, one sister, seven much-loved nephews and one adored niece, Aisling.
What figure from the world of medicine/health do you most admire? Dr Noel Browne for his vision and courage in endeavouring to put free healthcare for mothers and children at the core of the national health services.
What other career might you have chosen? I've always been interested in politics, but only at a theoretical level. A career as a landscape gardener would have been nice, but having been brought up on a farm where gardens were seen as a waste of good land, this was never a viable option.
If you were appointed Minister for Health, what would be your first priority? Concentrate on health promotion and primary healthcare. Get these right and the cost efficiencies resulting would give more scope for improvements in other healthcare sectors.
Do you have a phobia/what is your greatest fear? Being buried alive. That's why I won't be taking up caving any time soon.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one? Yes. Fairly compliant overall, but it did expose some hypochondriacal tendencies.
What three books would you bring to a desert island? The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. These did nothing for me at school but with time on my hands I might come to appreciate them. Bushcraft by Ray Mears might ensure I survive long enough to achieve the former. Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses - getting an opportunity to read this again might even inspire me to write evocatively about the most boring desert island.
Have you a fail-safe method of dealing with stress? Physical exercise, especially hill walking. Having to depend on your physical fitness quickly drives away all other stresses.
What is your favourite TV or radio programme? I love talk radio, especially radio plays. On TV, whodunits like Waking the Dead and Silent Witness - the gorier the better.
If you did not live in Ireland, where would you choose to spend the rest of your life? I was born in Zimbabwe and while it is a beautiful country, for obvious reasons I wouldn't choose to go back there. Perhaps somewhere where there is plenty of sunshine and where the breastfeeding rates are nearing 100 per cent, which would mean I could give landscape gardening a serious go.
Summarise yourself in 12 words: Would walk for Ireland but may drive other people crazy (about breastfeeding).
Do you use alternative medicine/therapies? Yes. I've tried osteopathy and reflexology to complement conventional medical therapies, with good effect.
Who or what makes you laugh? Classic comedy programmes like Only Fools and Horses, Fawlty Towers and Porridge, and Bull Island just cracks me up.
(In interview with Dr Muiris Houston)