Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 16 June 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

General Banking Matters: Discussion

Mr. Tony Lawlor:

Yes. In 2014, the stress of everything going on at the time led me to suffer quite a significant heart attack. As a result, I required a quintuple heart bypass, which involved five grafts on my primary arteries. This was the only way in which I could maintain any sort of cardiac stability at that time. Because of the nature of the job I was in, namely, an emergency responder to road traffic accidents and so on, I could have experienced an adrenaline rush and my heart just would not have been able for it. I was advised by my GP that the best avenue for me at that stage was to retire on the grounds of ill health.