Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

I move amendment No. 19:

In page 64, line 14, to delete "triable".

We would like the word, "triable", removed and substituted by "which, in the opinion of the Council, would have been appropriate for trial". We discussed this on Committee Stage and the section as it stands is very broad. There is a contradiction between the side note, "where persons convicted on indictment of an offence", and the text which refers to persons convicted of an offence triable on indictment, which includes summary offences which are not tried on indictment. The danger is that these could include a multitude of very minor offences. The problem with section 83 is that there is no test, criterion or requirement by which the council should judge whether a person should be struck off the register by reason of having been convicted of an offence. The amendment would use the wording set out, for example, in section 47(2)(d). That makes it clear that merely being convicted of an offence per se is not sufficient but that the offence should be one which renders it, in the opinion of the council, inappropriate for the person to practise veterinary medicine or nursing, as the case may be. It cannot just refer to any offence, rather to one that specifically relates to where it is inappropriate for the person to practise the profession of veterinary nursing or medicine.

See this speech in context