Tim O'Malley
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Tim O'Malley (Irish: Tadhg Ó Máille; born July 3, 1944), is an Irish Progressive Democrats politician. He is currently a Teachta Dála (TD) for Limerick East and Minister of State with special responsibility for Mental Health at the Department of Health & Children.
Tim 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 withdrew from managing and ownership of the business several years ago to concentrate fulltime on politics, having first whetted his appetite serving 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 (the statutory regulator of pharmacists and pharmacies in Ireland) for services rendered to the profession. He first became involved in electoral politics in 1991 when he was elected to Limerick County Council. O'Malley was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 2002.
According to claims made on the Progressive Democrats website, O'Malley has campaigned tirelessly on health issues since qualifying as a pharmacist over 30 years ago. 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 for Limerick East and Party founder, Desmond O'Malley and is also a cousin of the late Donagh O'Malley, TD, former Education Minister. Another of his cousins, Fiona O'Malley, is also a TD.
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.
| Oireachtas | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Desmond O'Malley |
Progressive Democrats Teachta Dála for Limerick East 2002 – present |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Tom Moffat |
Minister of State at the Department of Health & Children (with special responsibility for Disability & Mental Health Service) 2002 – present |
Incumbent |
