  tim o'malley (born 3 july 1944) is a former irish progressive democrats politician. he was a teachta dÃ¡la (td) for the limerick east constituency and was minister of state for disability and mental health at the department of health and children. o'malley was born in barrington street, in limerick. he was educated at crescent college, limerick and university college dublin where he received a bachelor of science pharmacy. before entering electoral politics, o'malley managed his own pharmacy in the limerick city suburb of dooradoyle. he served as president of the irish pharmaceutical union, the representative body for over 1400 community pharmacies in ireland. he was also awarded a fellowship by the pharmaceutical society of ireland for services rendered to the profession. he later withdrew from management and ownership of the pharmacy business to concentrate full-time on politics. he first held political office in 1991 when he was elected to limerick county council. o'malley was elected to dÃ¡il Ãireann at the 2002 general election. in 2001, he was appointed health spokesperson for the progressive democrats, and successfully spearheaded his party's campaign to have a treatment purchase fund included in the government health strategy, as a means of reducing public patient waiting lists in irish hospitals. o'malley comes from a family with a strong political pedigree in limerick. he is a cousin of the former progressive democrats td and party founder desmond o'malley, and is also a cousin of donogh o'malley. two other cousins, fiona o'malley and patrick o'malley were also progressive democrat tds. when o' malley was in government, he set up an expert group to formulate national policy for mental health in ireland. in 2003, o'malley called the health board system to be abolished.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0412/pd
1944_births Alumni_of_University_College_Dublin Living_people Local_councillors_in_County_Limerick Members_of_the_29th_DA!il Ministers_of_State_of_the_29th_DA!il Progressive_Democrats_politicians TeachtaA_DA!la