PRISCILLA LYNCHtalks to the medical candidates running in the general election
THE QUESTION “is there a doctor in the house?” takes on a whole new meaning in the Oireachtas. Whether in local politics, the Seanad or the Dáil, there is a long tradition of medical doctors moonlighting as politicians.
Four medical doctors have held the position of minister for health since the formation of the Dáil, including recently retired GP and Fianna Fáil TD Dr Rory O’Hanlon.
In this year’s election, each of the three larger political parties has medical doctors running for office.
Fine Gael – which in recent years has attracted many medical candidates including Dublin North West City Councillor Dr Bill Tormey – is fielding three GPs in this election: current Seanad member and Wexford candidate Dr Liam Twomey, and Dr Leo Varadkar (Dublin West) and Dr James Reilly (Dublin North), both of whom were TDs in the last Dáil.
Dr Twomey was elected as an independent TD in 2002 and then joined Fine Gael where he became health spokesman, but lost his seat in the last general election. He was then elected to the Seanad.
“One of the reasons I got involved in politics is that I am a doctor and I first ran because of my concern at the state of the health services nine years ago and the failure to protect local health services. When I was party health spokesperson, I travelled the whole country and have huge indepth knowledge of how the HSE and health services work.”
Dr Reilly is the party’s health spokesman and deputy leader, and is a former president of doctors’ representative body, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO).
While the latest election opinion polls indicate he could well be the next minister for health, Dr Reilly says he never meant to enter politics.
“Politics chose me. I had no intention of running. I was supposed to be an adviser in the background, but Enda Kenny prevailed upon me to run and I’m very glad he did.”
As a doctor he “brings a great knowledge of the system”, he says.
“And I think having the experience I’ve had from the health boards and the IMO I bring not just a local knowledge but a broad knowledge of national and international medical systems, and a very clear diagnosis of what our problems are and, what I believe to be, a very well thought-out treatment plan which will give, I believe, an excellent prognosis.”
Most doctors who become TDs have to give up medicine or practise in a very limited way, and Dr Reilly says he hasn’t practised for a while due to his heavy political workload.
Dr Varadkar, the party’s spokesman on communications and energy, had to put his medical training on hold during the last Dáil but eventually qualified last year and now does occasional out-of-hours GP co-op work.
He says that as he doesn’t use his title, a lot of people don’t know he is a doctor, and he has been happy to focus on non-health issues in his time as a TD.
“As a doctor you can become pigeonholed very quickly into the guy who knows about health but doesn’t know about other things, so I’m kind of glad I got to do some of the economic stuff as it gives me a wider reach and everything is about the economy now.”
That said, Dr Varadkar says he enjoys medicine and in the long term he would like to combine his medical and political knowledge and maybe work for an international organisation such as the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Following the recent retirement of Dr O’Hanlon and his party GP colleague Dr Jim McDaid, Fianna Fáil has just one doctor running for the Dáil this time round – consultant psychiatrist Dr John Hillery, the son of former president Dr Patrick Hillery, who is standing in Clare.
Like Dr Varadkar, it’s not because he is a doctor and wants to change the health service that he is running, but rather “because I’m dismayed at the way Irish society has become disconnected from politics”.
He says that his experience as a doctor and as former president of the Medical Council gives him many skills that will be useful as a TD.
While Dr Hillery will have to give up practising medicine if he becomes a politician as being a TD “is a full-time job”, he says he will be commenting on health issues if elected.
Meanwhile, Labour is hoping Mulranny GP Dr Jerry Cowley will be elected in Mayo.
Dr Cowley was an independent TD in the 29th Dáil (2002-2007), having entered politics because of frustration over the lack of local orthopaedic care for Mayo patients, but he lost his seat during the last election.
Despite having a busy medical practice and his involvement in many rural and social organisations he is keen to re-enter the political arena.
Mayo General Hospital now has its own orthopaedic unit, but Dr Cowley says there are a number of urgent medical issues in his region which he wants to address.
“It becomes a compulsion after a while, because your frustration level reaches boiling point in the surgery when you’re dealing with things . . . doctors are in a very good position to know what’s going on and are frustrated at this two-tier health service we have.”
Dr Cowley, who would be happy to become minister for health if the opportunity arose, feels his party’s universal healthcare plans are the way to go for Ireland’s health service.
He continued practising as a GP while he was a TD previously and would hope to continue in a limited way if elected again.
Sinn Féin and the Green Party are not fielding doctor candidates in this election, but many doctors have run as independent candidates in previous Dáil and Seanad elections.
While not a medical doctor, HSE clinical psychologist Dr Mark Harrold, who is best known for helping blow the whistle on abuse at Leas Cross nursing home, is running as an independent in Dublin North.
“If we leave it to the larger parties, then I think we will have more of the same, which is a race to the bottom, where we are right now,” he says.
Dr Harrold says he is concerned about the rising rate of suicide due to the recession, which he says he will push as an issue to be tackled as a priority if elected.
“One of the things I would like to see rolled out across the country is a stress- control programme, which has been very successfully implemented in Glasgow,” he says.
