Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 23:

In page 54, line 24, after “2007” to insert “or equivalent as approved by the AHRRA”.

This amendment concerns the issue of relevant specialists, which we discussed on Committee Stage. AHR professionals have raised concerns about the fact there is a scarcity of relevant specialists in Ireland and, because of this, many patients access services in other jurisdictions, in particular the UK. Therefore, there is clearly a need to ensure such international specialists are appropriately qualified and, hence, the need for approval by AHRRA. Were Ireland to have sufficient relevant specialists in the future, such approval could be withdrawn, of course.

On Committee Stage, we had a similar discussion around narrow definitions in the context of Ireland's very small pool of genetic specialists. The Minister agreed with the principle of my Committee Stage amendment, as far as I can recall, and acknowledged there may be scope to give AHRRA or another appropriate body the power to recognise relevant qualifications and specialists in the UK or elsewhere. The Minister committed to asking his officials to work with the various clinical governance groups to see what would be an appropriate framework to put in place. I understand that no such framework has been proposed in the Minister's Report Stage amendments and I wonder has the Minister had an opportunity to rethink his position in this regard. We could very easily see a situation where appropriate specialists were not available, given the small pool.

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