Maureen Lynott Management consultant.
Personal/family: From Ireland and raised in US; lives in Dublin, with a small cottage in Mayo, and has a wonderful daughter.
What figure from the world of medicine/health do you most admire?
Eleanor Roosevelt, who spearheaded the development of child and maternal health clinics in areas of great poverty in inner cities and rural areas of America.
What other career might you have chosen?
I seriously considered being a journalist.
If you were appointed Minister for Health, what would be your first priority?
The establishment of universal access to comprehensive primary care in local communities.
Do you have a phobia/what is your greatest fear?
No phobias, but a great dread of dogs and the dentist.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one?
I spent a lot of time as a patient as a child with TB; for some reason, I'm smiling in the photographs.
What three books would you bring to a desert island?
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee; the poetry of Adrienne Rich; Narcissus and Goldman by Herman Hesse.
Have you a fail-safe method of dealing with stress?
A brisk walk on Carramore strand in Louisburgh.
What is your favourite TV or radio programme?
The West Wing and Channel 4 News. I also think RTE radio is very good especially Morning Ireland, 5-7 Live and Vincent Browne.
If you did not live in Ireland, where would you choose to spend the rest of your life?
I am very taken with the beauty, people and sense of South Africa after a first trip there in August, and I will go back.
Summarise yourself in 12 words.
Child of the 60s, interested, persistent, sentimental, warm, getting set in ways!
Do you use alternative medicine/therapies?
Yes, I believe that both modern and traditional therapies are beneficial.
Who or what makes you laugh?
Children, good banter.