Ian O'Doherty is one of the most fearless journalists in Ireland.
In my experience very few columnists – he writes for the Irish Independent and Irish Daily Star – are prepared to tackle some of the difficult issues he addresses.
He's also a smoker and is one of the few remaining journalists who's prepared to admit it without apologising.
Naturally he was top of the list of people we wanted to meet when we organised a series of dinners in Dublin last year.
Not only did he join us on a couple of occasions, he even accepted an invitation to say a few words at the Golden Nanny Awards in November when he also proposed an ad hoc toast to the woman who had previously been his bete noire, Senator Catherine Noone, winner of the 'Nanny-in-Chief' award.
On Saturday Ian used his column in the Irish Independent to attack those who refuse to let mental health patients' smoke even in the grounds of mental health units.
He also criticised blanket bans on smoking on the grounds of Irish hospitals and included a comment from Forest Ireland’s John Mallon (taken from this press release) which I’m pleased about because John was an outspoken critic of the plan to ban smoking in three mental health units in Cork when it was first reported locally.
Anyway, the article is well worth reading. Click here. You can register for free and it only takes a moment.
Above: Ian O'Doherty at the Golden Nanny Awards, Dublin, November 2017. Below: with Claire Fox, director of the Academy of Ideas, Dublin, May 2017.
