Dr Austin O Carroll, the renowned Inner City Dublin general practitioner and advocate for the

marginalised, is one of contemporary Ireland’s most charismatic and practical humanitarians.

He has co-created several specialised primary care services for homeless people: e.g., Safetynet, the

umbrella organisation for primary care services provided in hostels, food halls and drop-in centres in

Dublin, Limerick and Cork. Safetynet also provides services to the Roma community; methadone

services to homeless people, and care for migrants. Austin also introduced a mobile outreach clinic

for rough sleepers.

Dr O’Carroll was a founding member of D-Doc, and he set up the North Dublin City GP Training

programme, the first such programme that specifically trains GPs to work in areas of deprivation and

with marginalised groups. He co-founded GMQ GP services for homeless people, and Curam, a social

enterprise that aims to establish new GP practices in areas of deprivation. His PhD in ethnographic

research into homelessness helped inform his TEDTalk on developing services for the homeless.

Austin’s remarkable work has not gone unnoticed: he was included in the book, Give Me Irish Heroes

in 2009; and has received numerous awards: Time & Tide Award for his work with migrants; the

Fiona Bradley Award for primary care to marginalised groups; the Healthcare Professional of the Year

Award 2015; Honorary Membership of the RCPI 2015; the Doolin medal in 2018 and the WONCA

(World Organization of Family Doctors) Europe 2020 5-Star Doctor Award for Excellence in

Healthcare.

In between work and family time, he cycles great distances, sometimes for charity, and he sails on the

Irish Paralympics Sailing Team.

In this inspiring podcast, Austin touches on his own Thalidomide-related disability and the ‘tough

love’ that prepared him for adulthood, the importance of distinguishing traditional faith-based and

‘medical’ models of disability from social and rights-based approaches, the devastating power of

‘internalised stigma’, the often-unfair press that GPs receive around prescribing benzodiazepines, the

suicidal ideation that can occur in professionals who are subject to complaints to the Medical Council,

the surprisingly impressive work being done in Ireland in the care of the homeless and marginalised,

and much more.

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