Pro Bono?

Brace yourself - the local and Euro elections are just around the corner and from here on in, expect to be inundated with promises, pledges, strokes and begging in return for votes on June 5.

While many candidates tend to blend into a boring shade of grey, it is refreshing to see one candidate with a novel idea for our times.

Step forward Limerick Consultant Radiologist Dr Alexander Stafford who is adopting a John F. Kennedy approach to civic duty - ‘ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’.

Dr Stafford is the only Limerick person to be contesting the European elections and he is running as an Independent candidate.

Launching his campaign, one of his proposals is the adoption of a ‘Pro Bono Publico’ principle - to be undertaken by professionals not just in the health system, but across as many public and private sectors as possible.

He is also promoting the adoption of the ‘Pro Bono Publico’ principle to be undertaken by professionals not just in the health system, but across as many public and private sectors as possible.

This principle essentially means professional work being undertaken voluntarily and without payment as a public service for those who are unable to afford it and which is common in the US legal system.

“If both public and private sector professionals were willing, as I am, to give a mininum of 50 hours pro bono service per year (a minimum of one hour extra per week), this could significantly alleviate waiting lists and financial hardships for people,” he said.