Bernadette O'Sullivan Director and lecturer, Masters in Journalism, NUI, Galway.
Personal/family: Married to David with a 20-year-old son, Eoin, and a nine-year-old daughter, Kitty.
What figure from the world of medicine/health do you most admire?
Dr Paul Carson who runs a general practice and allergy clinic in Stillorgan and is the author of several books on allergies, including asthma. After the first visit to Paul with my then five-year-old child we were out of the woods. His belief in adequate medication to allow an asthmatic child lead a normal life changed our lives. We need more doctors like Paul Carson.
What other career might you have chosen?
Publishing and librarianship were close to choosing me early in my career, when I worked on a publishing project in Early Printed Books at the library in Trinity College. If I'm having a bad day I long for old books and silence. Horticulture is also on the shortlist in another life.
If you were appointed Minister for Health, what would be your first priority?
I would put the health of the young and the old at the top of the agenda. For the young I would implement a massive campaign to curb the use and abuse of alcohol. For the old I would invest in improved community-based geriatric support services that would assist older people in living as long as possible in their own homes.
Do you have a phobia/what is your greatest fear?
Not too keen on the underground in London or the Metro in Paris in the wake of international terrorist attacks.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one?
Thankfully, only a couple of minor procedures. Hated it.
What three books would you bring to a desert island?
My signed copy of John McGahern's That They May Face the Rising Sun; Graham Stuart Thomas's Gardening Through the Year, a Christmas present from my husband; and Flora Poetica, the Chatto Book of Botanical Verse edited by Sarah McGuire, a birthday present from a friend.
Have you a fail-safe method of dealing with stress?
Gardening - digging, weeding or simply pottering. Stress and tension just fall away. Happy hormones by the spadeful and beautiful flowers to feed the soul.
What is your favourite TV/radio programme?
From Monday to Friday, I'm a bit of a radio news junkie. Morning Ireland is my first fix of the day and Tonight with Vincent Browne, is the last, except on Mondays, when TV gets a look in for Questions and Answers. I try to have news-free weekends.
If you did not live in Ireland, where would you choose to spend the rest of your life?
I'd have to be somewhere I could talk to and interact with people and of course listen to and read the news. So it would be France. Perhaps, a third or fourth floor apartment in Paris with a view over rooftops, a boulangerie, a patisserie, and a good cafe within walking distance. (Oh, and a country escape, naturellement!)
Summarise yourself in 12 words.
Ask someone who knows me better than I do.
Do you use alternative medicine/therapies?
Evening oil of primrose and a calcium supplement; fruit smoothies for breakfast (especially if someone else makes them).
Who or what makes you laugh?
A night out, or in, with my treasured girlfriends; my nine-year-old daughter setting the world to rights; when necessary, my son and my husband make me laugh AT MYSELF. Fr Ted and the rest of the gang on Craggy Island.