Dr Reilly's diagnoses enable Fine Gael to keep pressure on Coalition

Sam SmythWhen a famously fickle Fine Gael backbencher like John Deasy says their spokesman on health brings a lot to the party, it is a valued vote of confidence in Dr James Reilly."We should lend James to the Government for a week to sort out the health service and then bring him back to our front bench to make sure they keep to his plan," said the Waterford TD.Deasy is not easily impressed by bluebloods but he reckons Reilly, who belongs to no internal clique, brings confidence, competence and gravitas to Fine Gael's frontbench.Reilly really has made an enormous impact in the Dail and the media since he took up the health portfolio after his election last year. He is an integral part of a very effective troika with Richard Bruton and Brian Hayes that has seen Fine Gael spook a fearful Government.It is a very impressive feat for a first-time TD only elected 16 months ago to track and wound arguably the best performer and most experienced minister in Government, Mary Harney. And his vision is as grand as his experience in the practice of medicine and its politics.AspirationHe would like to introduce a universal free national health service -- but one that takes lessons from the mistakes made in Britain's NHS. It is a bold aspiration at a time of economic crisis when every other public service is being rolled back, but it doesn't faze Reilly. And his unshakeable confidence has stiffened the resolve of many in his parliamentary party.He originally opposed a free medical card for the over-70s but has since changed his mind and makes no apology for it.Both Labour and Fianna Fail sounded him out before he decided to run in Dublin North but with a brother as chairman of a Fine Gael branch he ran with his family's political brand.He was steeped in medicine and medical politics: both his parents were doctors and his dad was secretary general of the Irish Medical Association.Two brothers and a sister are doctors, two sisters are nurses and his eldest son is studying medicine.He has two big practices in north Dublin and also developed property there which funded a country estate in Tipperary and a fine family home in Rush.Like a successful chief executive or great physician, an ability to focus an impressive intelligence on a problem and examine all the options gives him a head start over many other politicians. It was a talent he brought to bear representing GPs when he led a team from the Irish Medical Organisation negotiating with the Department of Health for the free medical card for the over-70s.The government had a deadline of July 1, 2001 and needed an agreement more than the IMO, who sat back and watched the clock.He became president of the IMO in 2003, was chairman and president of the GP committee and their representative at the World Medical Association.Many professionals were taken aback when Reilly wept on television last year after nearly 100 women in Portlaoise needed further checks for breast cancer.But shedding a tear at yet another HSE debacle doesn't hinder his encyclopedic knowledge of the health service and how it doesn't work. And he is in for the long haul: with his family raised, James Reilly (53) would like to become minister for health more than anything else.Yet he should be careful what he wishes for: in the current political climate, it could come true. Download our iPhone App Now