Moosajee Bhamjee (born 4 December 1947) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

constituency from 1992 to 1997. Bhamjee was Ireland's first

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

TD.

Early life and education

Bhamjee was born in

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

, South Africa, in 1947. His father emigrated from India in 1906 and had set up a hardware shop there. He father died in 1964, so it was decided that one of the sons would take over the shop while another would go for further education. Bhamjee travelled to Dublin in 1965, where he studied medicine at the

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is a medical professional and educational institution, which is also known as RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland's first private university. It was established in 1784 ...

. Bhamjee's two other brothers also travelled to Dublin around the same time to study medicine. After he received his degree, Bhamjee returned to South Africa, where he began working as a general practitioner. He returned to Ireland in 1975 and married a woman he first met when studying in Dublin. They moved to Galway and later to Cork, where he trained as a psychiatrist. In 1984, Bhamjee started a permanent post at Our Lady's Hospital in

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

, County Clare, less than 20 miles from his wife's home-place of

Cooraclare Cooraclare () is a village near Kilrush, in County Clare, Ireland, and a Catholic parish by the same name. Location The village of Cooraclare is in the parish of Cooraclare (Kilmacduane) in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe. It is from Kil ...

Political career and aftermath

Bhamjee joined the Labour Party in 1991 and was the party's candidate at the 1992 general election. Bhamjee became a TD for

, traditionally a Fianna Fáil stronghold. He was in fact the last candidate to become a member of the 27th Dáil. Bhamjee, due to his Indian heritage, was immediately nicknamed "the Indian among the cowboys". While the Labour Party formed a coalition government with Fianna Fáil, Bhamjee was a

backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

. He still worked as a

consultant psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

while he was a TD. He declined to stand again at the 1997 general election and retired from politics to continue his career in the health service. In December 2011, Bhamjee called for the addition of the drug Lithium to the Irish drinking water supply. Bhamjee stated that "there is growing scientific evidence that adding trace amounts of the drug lithium to a water supply can lower rates of suicide and depression".

References

External links

Interview in Psychiatric Bulletin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhamjee, Moosajee 1947 births Living people Labour Party (Ireland) TDs South African emigrants to Ireland Irish people of Indian descent Irish psychiatrists Members of the 27th Dáil Irish Muslims People from Pietermaritzburg South African people of Indian descent Politicians from County Clare Medical doctors from County Clare