Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Work is ongoing on the preparation of a new dental Bill. It is based on a comprehensive public consultation process which informed the key policy issues that are now shaping the drafting of the Bill. The Bill will bring about significant change in fitness to practice, regulation, registration and the constitution of the Dental Council. The legislation will provide for the regulation and inspection of dental practices by the Dental Council. These proposals also ensure modernisation of the legislation regarding governance of the council, specified functions of council, education and training and continuous professional development. A regulatory impact analysis is also under way. There is no row-back on the registration of allied dental professions. It is proposed that those allied dental professions whose scope of practise has been determined by the Dental Council as being suitable for independent practice will have mandatory registration and be made subject to fitness to practice. The council will make this determination based on its assessment of the level and nature of the risk posed to patient safety.

Allied dental professions not determined by the council as being suitable for independent practice will not have mandatory registration. However, the Dental Council may introduce rules to regulate the training and education standards and to protect the titles of these professions. It will be an offence for a person to falsely present as having the approved education and training standard or to falsely use a protected title.

Over the last number of years, the Department has updated the legislation for doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists and 14 health and social care professionals. This has provided for greater accountability and comprehensive regulatory governance of these professions. It was a major body of legislative work. The experience of this, and of implementing these revised arrangements, will inform the Department's consideration of priorities for further legislation in the area of professional regulation. This includes the drafting of the new Dental Bill during the course of 2016. Department officials are also currently committed to drafting a priority health (miscellaneous provisions) Bill. The primary purpose of this is to amend all health profession regulator Acts as a consequence of the transposition into Irish law by January 2016 of the modernised professionals qualification directive.

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