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

I understand that many aspects of the Bill are quite technical as they seek to amend certain provisions of the Radiological Protection Act and also provide a legal basis under the principal Act for the transposition into Irish law of certain articles of the EURATOM Council directive.

7 o’clock

It is important that certain radiological functions are appropriated to the correct Department. As secondary legislation will follow on from this, it is important that the functions lie with the correct Minister, as outlined by a previous speaker.

I have chosen to speak on this Bill because I wish to implore the Government to ensure that when applying the European Union Basic Safety Standards for Protection against Dangers arising from Medical Exposure to Ionising Radiation Regulations 2018, which will follow on from this legislation, chiropractors will be allowed to continue to use X-ray machines while adhering to the applicable health and safety regulations.

In response to parliamentary questions, the Minister for Health has said that the statutory instrument transposing the BSSD will designate those who may refer for radiological tests, those who may carry them out and other functions. In this regard he proposes to designate nurses, doctors, dentists and radiographers as appropriate. I urge him to add chiropractors to that list and allow them to continue providing the services they already provide. I am not asking for any less stringent application of health and safety regulations; I am merely requesting that the Government allow chiropractors to continue to have the access to X-rays they have had for decades. The Minister for Health has stated that information available to his Department suggests that a number of EU member states do not propose to designate chiropractors for the purpose of the BSSD. I would challenge this by saying that a number of states are allowing chiropractors to be designated under BSSD.

I further challenge the Minister on apparently bending the knee to the EU on this when the ultimate power in how the BSSD is applied lies with the Government. This is a Government decision at the end of the day and if it tries to hide behind the EU, we on this side of the House will ensure it is exposed on that.

See this speech in context