The Medical Council elected a new president yesterday. He is Dr John Hillery, son of the former president of Ireland Dr Patrick Hillery. Eithne Donnellan reports.
The consultant psychiatrist was elected to the prestigious post at the first meeting of the newly elected Medical Council yesterday afternoon. He replaces Prof Gerard Bury who was president of the council, which regulates and polices the medical profession, for the past five years.
Other officers elected included Dr Colm Quigley, a consultant physician at Wexford General Hospital and a former president of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association. He takes up the post of vice-president.
The Sligo-based orthopaedic surgeon Mr Brendan Healy was elected to chair the council's Fitness to Practise Committee. Prof Muiris Fitzgerald heads the council's Education and Training Committee.
Dr Hillery said it was a great honour to be elected president. He said he believed the council could both protect the public and support doctors. "We still have work to do on public trust and the trust of the profession."