Tim O'Malley
| Tim O'Malley | |
|---|---|
| Teachta Dála | |
| In office May 2002 – May 2007 |
|
| Constituency | Limerick East |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 July 1944 |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Progressive Democrats |
Tim O'Malley (born 3 July 1944) is a former Irish Progressive Democrats politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Limerick East constituency and was Minister of State with special responsibility for Mental Health at the Department of Health and Children.[1]
O'Malley was born in Milltown, Ballysimon, County Limerick. He was educated at Crescent College, Limerick and University College Dublin where he received a Bachelor of Science Pharmacy (BSc Pharm). Before entering electoral politics, O'Malley managed his own pharmacy in the Limerick city suburb of Dooradoyle. He served as president of the Irish Pharmaceutical Union, the representative body for over 1400 community pharmacies in Ireland. He was also awarded a fellowship by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland for services rendered to the profession. He later withdrew from management and ownership of the pharmacy business to concentrate fulltime on politics.
He first held political office in 1991 when he was elected to Limerick County Council. O'Malley was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2002 general election.[2]
In 2001, he was appointed Health spokesperson for the Progressive Democrats, and successfully spearheaded his party's campaign to have a Treatment Purchase Fund included in the Government Health Strategy, as a means of reducing public patient waiting lists in Irish hospitals.
O'Malley comes from a family with a strong political pedigree in Limerick. He is a cousin of the former Progressive Democrats TD and Party founder Desmond O'Malley, and is also a cousin of Donogh O'Malley. Two other cousins, Fiona O'Malley and Patrick O'Malley were also Progressive Democrat TDs.
In November 2006, during an interview on the radio station Newstalk, he referred to gay people as not being of a "normal disposition". Around the same time, he was quoted in a medical journal as saying severe depression was not a "real illness".
In December of that year he came under increasing pressure from opposition TDs to resign following a Prime Time Investigates television programme broadcast on RTÉ One which criticised the lack of mental health services available for Irish children. He implied in the programme that long waiting lists for psychiatric services were in some cases engineered by psychiatrists themselves in search of a feeling of power.[3]
He lost his seat at the 2007 general election.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Mr. Tim O'Malley". Oireachtas Members Database. http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=29&MemberID=1835&ConstID=131. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
- ^ "Tim O'Malley". ElectionsIreland.org. http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=4428. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
- ^ "O'Malley claims people like to have hospital waiting lists". RTÉ News. 5 December 2006. http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1205/health.html.
[edit] External links
| Oireachtas | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Desmond O'Malley (Progressive Democrats) |
Progressive Democrats Teachta Dála for Limerick East 2002–2007 |
Succeeded by Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Tom Moffatt |
Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (with special responsibility for Disability and Mental Health) 2002–2007 |
Succeeded by Jimmy Devins |
