ON THE COUCH:Liz Waters is chief executive of An Cosán, whose mission is to eradicate poverty through education
Family/personal:
Separated with three sons and living in the grace of a very happy second relationship.
Which living person do you most admire and why?
Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, a worldwide network of homes where people with developmental disabilities, volunteers and a sprinkling of staff live together in community.
What do you regard as the top three problems facing Ireland’s health system?
Inequality of access, inequality of service, inequality of outcomes – the poor die earlier.
What is your greatest extravagance?
My gas and electric Aga.
What is your most unhealthy habit?
Lack of exercise.
Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?
My family and Vincent Browne for provocative discussion, Sr Stan for inspiration, Brendan Kennelly for the poetic, Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli for glamour, poet Rita Ann Higgins for a different way of seeing things and my parents, who are now dead.
How do you relax?
Cooking for family and friends.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A long evening meal outdoors in balmy weather with good food, wonderful wine with my partner and our respective sons.
What trait do you most value in your friends?
Knowledgeable compassionate acceptance of others.
What talent would you most like to have?
To be able to sing or play a musical instrument.
Do you use alternative/ complementary medicines or therapies?
No, probably because I do not attend to my health properly.
What is your earliest memory?
Pulling my older sister’s hair while sitting on the stairs – I must have been about 18 months old at the time.
What is your most treasured possession?
The watch my grandmother gave my father.
What other career might you have chosen?
A ballet dancer.
What books or films have inspired you?
Films that have inspired me include Babette's Feastand The Lives of Others.
Books that have inspired me include The Night They Burned the Mountainby Dr Tom Dooley, Markingsby Dag Hammarskjöld and Our Lives Out Loudby Ann Louise Gilligan and Katherine Zappone.
- In conversation with Fiona Tyrrell