Ms Olivia O'Leary Veal:

At present, we are covered under two separate pieces of legislation that govern ionising radiation. SI 125 of 2000 would concern the holding and monitoring, and licensing, of the equipment. However, as a profession, we lack the protection of the statutory regulation here. That precludes us from being included in the regulations as they stand currently. In the UK, the two processes are separate. Originally, when the Chiropractors Act was brought into the UK, it was not mandated that statutory regulation was necessary for chiropractors to be able to X-ray. We believe this is a disadvantage to us as a profession as we stand because there is no statutory protection afforded to us. We are allied to the best practice of voluntary regulation which is based on the UK model of statutory regulation. The Chiropractic Association of Ireland would represent the chiropractors in the implementation of the necessary clinical governance and fitness to practise in the absence of there being a statutory model.