Dr Pat Donohue

Kampuchea has a population of about six million and, besides the natives, you will find Vietnamese, Chams, Chinese and Europeans living there. Among the latter at this moment is at least one Irishman, Dr. Pat Donohue from Cashel, who has departed to this far-off country, to spend three months giving medical attention to the needy.

Before he departed, I asked him if he felt noble and great undertaking such a long and distant separation from his wife, his four children, his town and country.

‘Not in the least. I see this as a medical challenge. I am going to get the opportunity to return to the basics of my profession, the primary care of people, who have greater needs than twentieth-century man.’


Bur surely the motivation must be greater, something more personal than a vocational challenge?


‘Well, there is the humanitarian side to it. I am acquainted with history and our own people suffered a national cataclysm similar to the Cambodians, not much more than a hundred years ago. It is only proper that the better-off states should look after those stricken with disaster. You know how we remember England for her failure to look after us: everyone knows about Queen Victoria and her £5! Whether it is true or not.’


Are you not a romantic at heart?


‘I’m going to feel loneliness and separation but I believe I’m strong-willed enough not to succumb.’

Came to Cashel in 1972

Dr. Donohue came to Cashel in 1972 and has made an impact in the town in the meantime. An extrovert by nature, he communicates easily with people and doesn’t stand on ceremony. The nature of his job is helping people, and there is a social commitment in his character that leads him to adopt causes.

He has been a member of Cashel Lions Club almost since he came to town. This gave him scope to serve the community beyond their purely medical needs. At the same time, it is an extension of his vocational training. This year he is President of the club, and his accomplishment must be unique in the history of Lionism, because he is putting into practice the motto of the organisation: We Serve!

Another area of his community endeavour is the Old Cashel Society. This has been very much his baby since it came into existence about four years ago. “Any person should know about his community. What he is today is due to what his ancestors did in the past. He has a duty to know that past, in order to know himself better. The Old Cashel Society helps the people of Cashel to know their past and to have a greater understanding of the present.”

Lanesboro upbringing

This is interesting because Dr. Donohue is not a native of Cashel. He was born in Cappoquin, where his father was a general practitioner. However, he moved to Lanesboro, Co. Longford when Pat was a baby, and he identifies with Lanesboro rather than Cappoquin. He is probably the only person in Cashel, who will tell you when Longford won the National Football League!

After primary school in Lanesboro, he went to secondary in Roscommon CBS: ‘Great credit is due to the Christian Brothers who provided education to so many for so little. They have often been criticised for corporal punishment, but I don’t think it ever did anybody much harm. If one were to criticize them one could crib about the little emphasis they put on cultural activities and sporting facilities.’

He studied medicine at University College, Galway: ‘It was a very intimate place in those days, fewer that fifteen hundred students. Everybody knew everybody and you didn’t confine your interest to your own faculty. There was also a marvellous relationship between town and gown and the university was very well integrated into the community.” He was interested in sport, particularly boxing and the G.A.A.: ‘There are no dangers in boxing provided it is well managed by responsible people. In fact, it can develop great discipline.’

The Great Outdoors

Today, Dr. Donohue is a lover of the great outdoors. He enjoys mountaineering and orienteering. Walking the hills and mountains of Tipperary gives him great pleasure: “Orienteering is a very cheap way of using the natural features of the country. It relieves the boredom of long-distance running. Tipperary county is ideally suited because of its many suitable mountain ranges.”

For him we have a great country, but we must use it wisely. There is danger of abusing what we have gained. There is need for youth leadership and development of character. There is also the question of how we as Irish are going to react to the constant stream of rules and regulations coming from the EEC and the multi-national companies. Will Irish people continue to accept them all without cavil, or will there be a social revolution?

But, this if of the future. For the present, Dr. Donohue is living with a different revolution and the results of it. His present work is really an extension of his life’s work, caring for the community, extended for the next three months to include Cambodia.