Results 7,421-7,440 of 12,773 for speaker:Louise O'Reilly

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: This section provides that a failure to make a declaration will be treated in the same manner as practitioners prohibited or restricted from providing care. Did the Minister consider any less onerous penalties for failure to make a declaration? This seems unduly heavy on the registrant.

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: Yes.

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I do not have a reference in my notes but it falls under section 12. In our dialogue with representative bodies they brought to our attention that it appeared onerous and harsh to treat those who fail to make a declaration in the same way as those who have been prohibited-----

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I appreciate that. I am speaking on the section as opposed to the amendments.

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I do not know if I am unique in this Dáil but I think I am unique in this room in that I would have dealt with the outworkings of this legislation. Appealing to the High Court is really onerous in terms of the time it takes and the stress it causes. Let us not lose sight of the fact that it also costs the State a fortune. I have been in the High Court on an appeal when I was given...

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I understand that when the Medical Council of Ireland sits, it sits with the power of the High Court and I can see why it has to be a like for like arrangement. The Minister of State has heard the concerns that have been raised if there is to be an informal meeting, which would be helpful. I would suggest that we ask someone to come in who has been through that experience, either from the...

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: Is it the case that it is to go to the High Court because it is a question of like for like and because one cannot appeal to a lower court and so it must be one to the other? Okay, that was getting lost in the discussion. By necessity, it must be to a forum such as the High Court or something of a similar level but it does not necessarily have to be the High Court. We are talking about...

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I move amendment No. 12: In page 25, to delete lines 15 to 30. I will illustrate this with an example. Some years ago, I represented a nurse who had been struggling with addiction. During the period of her addiction, she was guilty of poor professional performance but thereafter she had worked very hard and, with the support of her family, she got her life completely back together. She...

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: Has the Minister of State had dialogue with the representative body in this regard?

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: That is fair enough.

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I withdraw this amendment and I may re-table it.

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I have already outlined the reasons I will be opposing this as I am deeply concerned. It is not that anything should be kept from the public, where it is in the public interest, but it has to be absolutely balanced with the impact that publication has on a person's life. One must consider, with the best will in the fastest process in the world, that these things still take a long time. By...

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I appreciate that but in my experience, that discretion is seldom, if ever, exercised. We must be very careful and we must absolutely protect the public interest where it is in the public interest to publish. Erring on the side of:"we will publish unless there is" is a necessary discretion. If I am hearing the Minister of State correctly, the appeal would be the event that the regulatory...

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: Again, one is back at the High Court, with one small individual versus a massive team.

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: The regulatory body could decide if it was in the public interest to make a recommendation on that basis. The purpose of this exercise is to tease it out, and if I am reading incorrectly, I am perfectly willing to be corrected on that. The way that it is published is that there will always be publication unless there is a substantial reason not to, whereas it might be weighted the other way...

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: As things currently stand, is it the case for all regulators that a minor censure or admonishment, rather than a striking off, is automatically notified to the High Court?

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: That is my point. At the end of hearing, one goes back for a confirmatory hearing. One is sent the result, if I recall correctly. I only have experience with one regulator and the system has changed somewhat. My recollection is that one gets a result, goes back in for the confirmation and then one makes the case in situations where the issue is minor. One does not go to the High Court...

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: I wish I had the Minister of State's confidence that inappropriate issues will not get through the net. They will and they do. It is not fault of any one person but it happens. The potential exists within this legislation to wreck a person’s life. I have serious concerns about this.

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: Yes but for admonishment or censure, this is new; it is a new departure. Such cases do not currently go to the High Court but they will when this legislation is enacted. There are three sets of people involved in this, namely the regulators, the general public and the registrants. The rights and entitlements of all must be balanced and I do not believe this legislation is being fair to...

Select Committee on Health: Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Louise O'Reilly: No, it is not agreed.