Saturday 6th April, 2013.

Dr. Matthew Sadlier has taken office as President of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO). Dr. Sadlier takes over the position from Dr. Paul McKeown whose term of office ended today. The handover happened today at the organisation’s AGM, which is taking place in Killarney this weekend.

Dr. Sadlier (37) is a Consultant Adult Psychiatrist and works in Connolly Hospital and the Mater Hospital in Dublin.

Speaking today Dr. Sadlier said that he was “humbled and honoured” to assume the role of President of the organisation.

Dr. Sadlier acknowledged the controversy faced by the IMO in recent months in respect of the departure of the former Chief Executive but said that the organisation had responded to this controversy with great transparency and a commitment to learning from its mistakes; “I’m not defending the mistakes that were made over many years but I’m determined that we learn from them so they can not happen again. The right course of action now is to allow the two review exercises to run their course and reach their conclusions and I intend to respect that process.”

Dr. Sadlier said that his focus in the coming months would be to seek a renewal of the IMO through a process of increased engagement with members and greater transparency about its operations; “the lesson of the last few months has been the need to renew and rebuild the organisation in a way that engages much more dynamically with members and I have no doubt that the leadership of the organisation is committed to this goal. This has been a difficult period but I want to ensure that we use it as a platform from which to renew the organisation and I know that our members want the same.”

Dr. Sadlier also said that the industrial relations agenda would assume an increased importance in the coming year; “Every doctor in Ireland and every patient in Ireland has suffered from the continuing pressure on budgets in the Irish health services. Our fear is that we are reaching a point where the damage to the health services will become irreversible and we will continue to highlight the crisis that is emerging and the consequences for our members and, more importantly, for patients as a result of this crisis.”

The AGM also saw the election and appointment of various other officers and chairman of Committees as follows:

• Dr Matthew Sadlier, President
• Dr. Trevor Duffy, Vice President (+ Chairman of Consultant Committee)
• Prof Sean Tierney, Treasurer
• Dr Padraig McGarry, Hon Secretary
• Dr Ray Walley, Chairman of GP Committee
• Dr John Donnellan, Chairman of NCHD Committee
• Dr Brett Lynam, Chairman of the Public Health Committee