Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is about the difference between qualifications and experience and training. Recognition of experiential learning is covered by the Act that deals with qualifications and quality. Is the Minister of State saying the cohort of people who will be captured by this provision comprises those who are eligible for admission to the register not by virtue of their experience but by virtue of their qualifications and who did not apply for admission at the time? Will the Medical Council have a role in reviewing their experiential learning, or other forms of training undertaken in the course of their duties, with a view to deeming it to be the equivalent of a qualification? The issue is whether a person is not only capable but also qualified. The Minister of State is seeking to change whether a person can be admitted to the specialist register. I have a particular interest in this issue which I have raised on countless occasions.

The Minister of State is saying the people concerned will not practice as a consultant by virtue of their legal entitlement to a contract of indefinite duration. I might be reading this incorrectly, but I believe such persons could do so. There is nothing to prohibit it. Currently, a person can work and be paid as a consultant without the necessary qualifications for admission to the specialist register. If the amendment is accepted, could a person amass sufficient experiential learning, on-the-job training, and experience, some of which could be obtained under a contract of indefinite duration because it is not specified that it cannot be, to allow him or her to be admitted to the register? I do not see how this excludes someone who is acting and being paid as a consultant and now entitled to a permanent position by virtue of a contract of indefinite duration, but I may be missing it. How is a person who is on a consultant’s wage under a contract of indefinite duration, rather than by virtue of his or her qualifications, excluded from admission to the specialist register?