October 24 – November 6, 2013
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Volume 26 – Number 23
the good life
Budget 2014
international Rules
interview :: time out
page 12
Sport
Clare Man Tickles Tastebuds With Fine Irish Wine
Government Wields Axe Of Austerity
Advantage Lies With Ireland For Deciding Test
new south wales bushfires nightmare
Brothers from Cavan survive ‘close shave’
fr tom leaving
Community anguish as chaplain’s role unfilled Luke O’Neill
IRISH MEDIC DEMANDS ON-AIR RETRACTION FROM A CURRENT AFFAIR
Doctor slams ‘sickie sting’
Andrea McCullagh
A QUEENSLAND doctor is furious after he was featured on an undercover TV sting on the popular show A Current Affair. Two people from the Channel 9 programme together visited five doctors in a bid to obtain sick notes, and covertly filmed the consultations. But Dr Liam Carroll, from Dublin, feels he was misrepresented in the broadcast and wants an on-air retraction for the stor y entitled Doctors Certificate Scandal. “His so-called girlfriend had a camera in the bag and was recording the whole thing,” Dr Carroll said. “This dynamic duo went around a variety of GPs in Brisbane and did the same thing. “I was the joker. I was the guy who didn’t take it seriously and found the whole thing was a bit of a joke and was recommending dinner and wine. Some sort of Irish clown.” Dr Carroll has discussed the case with defamation lawyers. Producer Aaron O’Brien and a woman colleague visited Dr Carroll at
the Brassall Clinic at the star t of October. During the broadcast on October 2, Mr O’Brien claimed he told the doctors he was merely tired and managed to obtain five medical certificates. “I was pretty surprised. I expected the doctors to pull me up for a pretty lame excuse that we were offering. I just went in and told them I was tired,” Mr O’Brien told the show. But Dr Carroll recalls Mr O’Brien telling him he was stressed and saying he was having problems with his boss at work. “The words he used were that he was stressed at work, he couldn’t possibly go in today. His boss was getting under him and he just can’t face it,” Dr Carroll said. “He had his hands on his head and he looked a bit distressed … I decided we would talk about psychological counselling.” Dr O’Carroll said he was trained to lighten the atmosphere and tr y to make the patient feel at ease, and that his goal was to try to get Mr O’Brien to smile. He said he told him no medication was needed and that his girlfriend could take him out for dinner
INJUSTICE: Dr Liam Carroll.
and a few glasses of red wine. Dr O’Carroll did not believe Mr O’Brien was suicidal but pointed out that he always has to be mindful of what is going on. “When you see males, particularly Australian males, and they are sitting there with their 30-year-old girlfriend and they are saying they are stressed, well who has brought you in here?” he said.
“It’s often the girlfriend saying you are going to the doctor. We just see the tip of the iceberg.” The show pixellated Dr Carroll’s face and did not name him in the show. But Dr Carroll, from the Dublin suburb Beaumont, says he was recognised by patients and fellow staff because of his Irish accent. “The practice manager came in at 5pm the next day and said, by the way you’ve been on A Current Affair,” he said. Dr Car roll has spoken to the Australian Communications and Media Authority and is tr ying to get a retraction on-air. “There’s got to be a place where you can go in and tell somebody your problems. It’s like taking a camera into a confession box,” he said. “There’s got to be some place which is a sanctuary, a refuge … A Current Affair have taken a sacrosanct interaction and turned it into a pantomime. “For all those men and women who suffer from stress this guy has done them an injustice.” The Irish Echo contacted Channel 9 but no response has been offered.
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www.irishecho.com.au | Postal Address: PO Box 256, Balmain NSW 2041 Australia | Phone: 1300 555 995 | Email (Editorial): newsdesk@irishecho.com.au | Email (Administration): mail@irishecho.com.au
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FIRE HORROR: A New South Wales Rural Fire Service volunteer battles a blaze in the Blue Mountains. Two Cavan brothers (insets) found themselves caught up in the bushfires in Winmalee and Springwood, two of the worst-hit areas. Pic: AAP/Paul Miller. See Page 9
UNCERTAINTY surrounds the future of the Irish chaplaincy ser vice in Bondi, with no replacement arranged for Fr Tom Devereux, who leaves the role early next month. The Galway-born priest has provided pastoral care and support for the Irish community in Sydney for a decade as Irish chaplain at St Patrick’s Church in Bondi. He is due to leave Sydney on November 8. Fr Devereux told the Irish Echo his parishioners had been pressing him for answers about his replacement and the future of the chaplaincy, but he has been unable to provide them with any response. Fr Devereux said the Maynoothbased Irish Episcopal Commission’s Council for Emigrants had had a year to consider the matter. Auxillary Bishop of Sydney Terry Brady warned there was a real possibility Fr Dever eux might not be replaced. “There’s no guarantee we’re going to get somebody. That’s very possible. We don’t just pull priests out of the air and Ireland has a shortage of clergy themselves, and you have got to have guys who want to come,” Bishop Brady told the Irish Echo. “These chaplaincies are pretty special jobs, you see. A lot of guys are not geared towards this. We’ve been blessed with Alan [Hilliard] and Tom,” he said. “I think it’s absolutely vital [service] but I’m also very aware from a normal church perspective that it’s very, very hard to get these people,” said Bishop Brady. Fr Devereux, who is a member of the Oblate order, is unhappy about the prospect of the chaplaincy role being left vacant. “I think the Irish bishops are doing a disservice to the Irish community here because they are not considering outside of the circle,” Fr Devereux said. Fr Devereux said it was “not good enough” of the commission.