“The Army Rangers? If you were a business, can you imagine if you assembled the top 1% of your organisation into a compound? Imagine the attitude, the energy, the potential.”
As a member of the army rangers, Cathal Berry served in the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa. Then, he left the army to train as a medical doctor, before returning as head of the Medical School of the Irish Defence Forces. He resigned his commission to advocate for change in the Defence Forces, highlighting issues about poor pay and conditions, and a growing disillusionment of military personnel with the perceived dysfunctional relationship between the military authorities and the Department of Defence. Having been elected to the Dáil this year in the Kildare South constituency, Berry talks to Sam Smyth about his career in the army, his motivation for entering politics and his deep hope that he can achieve enough in the next three years to avoid standing for election again. He also outlines what business can learn from the military, the possibility of Sinn Féin in government and the difference between neutrality and independence.
