Two doctors who have declared an interest in assuming the presidency of the next Medical Council have been elected to serve on the new council which assumes office next month.
They are Dr John Hillery, consultant psychiatrist at Stewarts Hospital in Palmerstown, Dublin, the outgoing vice-president of the current council, and Dr Brendan Healy, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Sligo General Hospital.
They were among 10 members elected to the new council when the votes were counted at the weekend.
The current president of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA), Dr Colm Quigley, was also elected, as was the former president of the Irish Medical Organisation, Mr Hugh Bredin.
Unsuccessful candidates included Mr Finbar Lennon, consultant surgeon at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, and the outgoing non-consultant hospital doctor representative, Dr Martin Mahon, of St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin.
Of the 10 members elected to serve on the new council, six are seen as holding a broadly pro-life view.
However, compared with previous campaigns, the issue of pro-life/pro-choice was not a feature of this election.
The main issue in the two-month campaign was that of increasing public access to the deliberations of the Medical Council.
Most candidates favoured more transparency but only a minority of candidates campaigned to hold hearings of its Fitness to Practice Committee in public.
Ballot papers were sent to fully registered medical practitioners in January, and all postal votes received by last Wednesday were counted.
The election filled 10 out of 25 vacancies and means that the statutory requirement for the profession to appoint at least two general practitioners, two general consultants, one consultant psychiatrist, one public health specialist and one non-consultant hospital doctor to the new council is now complete.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, must nominate a further six people, with the remaining nominations being the responsibility of the State's five medical schools and a number of specialist royal colleges.
Those elected (in alphabetical order) were: Mr Hugh Bredin, consultant urologist, University College Hospital Galway; Dr Anne Clarke, public health specialist, department of public health medicine, UCD; Mr Brendan Healy, consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Sligo General Hospital; Dr John Hillery, consultant psychiatrist, Stewarts Hospital, Palmerstown; Dr Miriam Hogan, general practitioner, Kilkenny; Dr Asam Ishtiaq, non-consultant hospital doctor, Waterford Regional Hospital; Dr Colm Quigley, consultant physician, Wexford General Hospital; Dr Bernard Ruane, general practitioner, Tralee, Co Kerry; Dr Helena Stokes, general practitioner, Tullamore, Co Offaly; and Dr Declan Sugrue, consultant cardiologist, Mater Hospital, Dublin.