Two prominent medics are running for the Seanad but the path from doctor to senator is not an easy one, writes Deaglán de Bréadún, Political Correspondent.
They say the reason academic politics are so bitter is because the stakes are so low. Be that as it may, it could hardly be said that the stakes are negligible in medical politics. Health issues dominated the recent election and will continue to make headlines for a long time to come.
One of the key positions in the health sphere is the presidency of the Medical Council, which regulates the medical profession. In that role you are a lightning conductor for the concerns of doctors, patients, health administrators and, of course, the minister of the day.
Dr John Hillery was first elected to the council in 1999 and became president in 2004. It has been a stormy period in medical politics and the health services in general. Just 10 days ago, Hillery stepped down from the job to run for Seanad Éireann on the National University of Ireland panel although he remains an ordinary council member.
As he explains, the council is about to be abolished in its present form, under the Medical Practitioners Act 2007. The logic of Hillery's Seanad move is that a successful election would give him a fresh platform from which to express his views on health and other issues.
But the competition is intense, with 24 candidates vying for three seats on the NUI panel. All three outgoing senators - Joe O'Toole, Feargal Quinn and Labour's Brendan Ryan - are seeking re-election.
Another medic seeking a seat on the NUI panel is Dr Mary O'Riordan of Limerick. who despite numerous attempts, could not be contacted for comment. Other candidates include teaching union activists Paddy Healy and Bernadine O'Sullivan; environmental campaigner Brendan Price; Valerie Bresnihan, well known for her work with the Penal Reform Trust; Mark Garavan, spokesman for the Rossport Five and Shell to Sea environmental campaigns; barrister, teacher and columnist Rónán Mullen; solicitor and human rights advocate Linda O'Shea Farren; and Susan Philips, described as a political analyst.
John Hillery is the son of former president Patrick Hillery and his wife Maeve, both of them also medical doctors. The Hillery presidency extended for two terms, from 1976 to 1990, and John actually lived in the official residence at Áras an Uachtaráin for much of that time.
His second stay there, 1985-1990, arose because of an illness in the family. His sister Vivienne became ill with cancer and their mother spent much of her time at the hospital with her ailing daughter, who eventually died at the age of 18. John, who was now married with a family of his own, moved back into the Áras to "keep my father company". They are still very close and the former president was one of those who nominated him in this election.
Hillery's decision to study medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons was not what his father had in mind - "he wanted me to do law" - but now he is a consultant psychiatrist who does a lot of work with people living in deprived parts of Tallaght who suffer from intellectual disabilities.
Despite his family background he was never in any political party and says he would remain independent if elected. A conciliator by temperament, he has been criticised by those who would wish him to take a more militant stance, directly confronting the Minister on health matters.
Last October he was challenged for the presidency in mid-term by Dr Colm Quigley, but survived by a single vote, 13-12, and not all members of the council may appreciate his decision to step down in the middle of the current period of transition.
Another prominent medical personality seeking a Seanad seat is Dr Maurice Guéret who is running in the University of Dublin/Trinity College constituency. His forebears left Paris amid the turbulence that arose from the 1871 Commune and set up in Ireland as church suppliers and religious publishers. Three other families came to Ireland with them, including the Jammets who set up the famous restaurant of that name on Dublin's Nassau Street.
There are 11 candidates for three seats and Guéret is facing tough competition from the likes of Senators David Norris and Shane Ross who are both running again. Senator Mary Henry is stepping down but there are strong contenders to replace her such as Prof Ivana Bacik, who went for the European Parliament on the Labour ticket in 2004 but is now standing as an Independent, and Sean O'Connor, a grandson of the late taoiseach Sean Lemass.
Other candidates include secondary teacher David Martin, Labour parliamentary adviser Stephen Douglas, and Ike Efobi, systems analyst and IT auditor.
"It's my second campaign," says Guéret, one of the more colourful personalities on the medical scene. When he used his Sunday Independent column, Rude Health, to criticise the absence of medical personnel on the Road Safety Authority, he incurred the wrath of RSA chairman Gay Byrne who responded furiously through his own column in the same newspaper under the headline, "Frankly, Dr Gueret, I can safely say you are a silly ass."
Guéret is openly targeting the seat vacated by medical colleague Mary Henry and claims the "perceived wisdom" is that there will be a battle between himself and Prof Bacik for third place on the panel, although other candidates would not necessarily share that view.
In addition to his work as a general practitioner in the Perrystown district of Dublin, he continues the family publishing tradition by editing and producing the Irish Medical Directory every year and he also edits the Trinity Medical News, which is aimed at medical and some science graduates and comes out twice a year (Dr Henry was his predecessor). As well as his Sunday newspaper column, he has a regular slot in Medicine Weekly. He is a man who is not short of opinions.
The University of Dublin has 48,880 voters on the register, just less than half the NUI with 103,000. About one-third of the combined electorate voted last time. Guéret says campaigning is "difficult" with graduates dispersed across 170 countries. In both constituencies, candidates get to send a leaflet free of postal charges to every voter and he is spending €10,000-€15,000 from his own resources on the campaign.
Now an Independent, Guéret sought a nomination as a byelection candidate for Fianna Fáil in Dublin South-Central in 1999 but the party opted instead for Michael Mulcahy, who is now a TD in the constituency.
"I left Fianna Fáil at that stage," he says. "I have no party affiliations whatsoever." He is a board member of Trust, a voluntary organisation which assists the homeless.
On the health services, he subscribes to the philosophy that "small is best" adding that, "We've gone backwards since we started building warehouse hospitals like Beaumont and Tallaght and James's and so on." He has a special interest in care of the elderly.
Hillery and Guéret are both critical of the current elitist set-up whereby only NUI and University of Dublin graduates can vote in Seanad elections. It means that University of Limerick and DIT graduates, for example, are disenfranchised. But Guéret argues that the university members are "the better of the senators that are there".
Ballot papers for the university seats are being issued on June 19th and polling closes at 11am on July 24th. The election is conducted by postal ballot. A doctor in the Upper House: who knows?
