Dermot Hourihan, b. 1933

Track 1: Background in Co. Mayo and early education in Dublin. Graduated in Medicine from UCD in 1955, followed by postgraduate work in London, specialising in pathology. Appointed to position of Reader in Pathology at Trinity College Dublin in 1966. Discusses life in the Department, which was housed in Parson’s building until 1980. Track 2: Supervision of postgraduate students’ studies; the challenges of coordinating the transfer of his Department to St James’s Hospital. Track 3: Appointed to Chair of Department in 1973. Discusses the destabilising effect of the Fitzgerald Report on his Department and his opposition to the controversial merger with University College Dublin. Track 4: The meeting with Dr John Charles McQuaid in 1970 for the purpose of rescinding the ban on Roman Catholic students attending Trinity. Track 5: The post-ban era in Trinity College and the ambivalence generated by thisTrack 6: The complex nature of discussions in respect of the proposed merger between Trinity College and University College Dublin. The student disturbances and the Maoist movement in the College at this time. Track 7: The limited facilities available to staff and students, and the challenge of negotiating the transfer to St James’s Hospital, including difficulties with the trade unions. Track 8: Recollections of the advances in medicine in his time, and of social change in Ireland, including the setting up of the Fertility Guidance Clinic.