Jonathan Hourihane, Professor of paediatrics and child health UCC and paediatric allergist.
Personal/family:Married to Yvonne d'Art, a GP. We have four children, Aisling (12), Claire (10), Joe (6), and Tom (4).
What figure from the world of medicine or health do you most admire?
A bit dated now, but Micheál Martin for the smoking ban. He didn't go far enough: he should have made it a class A drug.
What other career might you have chosen?
I was a vet for a week (before getting into medicine on the second round) - a lucky escape for Irish agriculture.
If you could grant three wishes for the health service, what would they be?
Proactive and responsive processes for planning and delivery (which aren't the same thing). World-class hospital facilities for children all over Ireland. It's the scale of the facility that needs specification, not the standard. A completely integrated consultant-led network of community medicine for children. The absence of same means sending some children home from hospital feels like throwing them off a cliff.
What is your greatest fear?
Falling from a height. It's not the height that worries me - it's the pre-impact terror.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one?
I had a cervical disc prolapse last year. Pill taking was easy but resting quietly was impossible.
When or where are you happiest?
If possible, it would be simultaneously playing cricket on a boat on a sunny day, while drinking a beer in the shade with Yvonne and watching my kids playing.
How do you cope with stress?
I'd better say having a glass of wine and talking it out.
What is the trait you most admire in yourself?
I quickly see the big picture in an issue.
Wh at is the trait you most dislike in yourself?
Impatience.
Do you use alternative or complementary medicine or therapies?
No. Conventional medicine hasn't let me down yet.
Who or what makes you laugh?
Pompous people made to look stupid. Dara Ó'Briain.
What is your motto?
Keep going.
What is your favourite TV or radio programme?
Test Match Special(lifelong cricket addict).
What books would you bring to a desert island?
I'll read anything so I have no favourites. So something useful like a beginner's guide to self sufficiency, hut and boat building.
In conversation with Sylvia Thompson