Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Henry for raising this issue on the Adjournment. I am afraid I am not briefed regarding the Government's legislative programme, so I am not in a position to deal with her final query about the progress of the medical practitioners legislation to which she referred.

The Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Act 2002 came into operation on 1 May 2002. The purpose of the amending legislation was to address, as a matter of urgency, issues relating to the registration of medical practitioners. These amendments were deemed necessary to avoid any threat to service delivery in the public health service and to deal with certain perceived inequities with regard to access to registration on the register of medical practitioners.