Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The new right for healthcare professionals to appeal minor sanctions is very welcome.

It was certainly a peculiar situation when a person could have a finding made against him or her with no recourse to appeal so that is welcome. I am concerned that section 15 sets the High Court as the place for the person to go, including, I believe, for quite minor sanctions. The High Court is very intimidating for many people, including myself. It can be vastly expensive. The idea that a healthcare professional who may have a legitimate grievance about a sanction against himself or herself would have to go to the High Court seems over the top. Certainly healthcare professionals have raised the issue. I know some of their representative bodies have raised the fact that various healthcare professionals would have to engage solicitors and barristers. In respect of the workings of the courts, the High Court obviously deals with numerous issues and can have quite serious backlogs. I wonder whether the High Court is the right place to go, first, as a reasonable path for somebody appealing what could be a very minor sanction and, second, for the courts in terms of the severity of some of the matters with which they deal. Is that the right thing for the courts to do? My focus, though, is on healthcare professionals. I raised this issue on Second Stage and hoped there might be a Government amendment to that effect. Could the Minister of State explain why such a high bar is being set for an appeal against what could be quite a minor sanction when minor sanctions in other areas, for example, driving or drug offences can be dealt with in lower courts?