Mary Henry (Independent)

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 9, subsection (1)(a), line 3, to delete "chiropodist" and substitute "podiatrist".

"Podiatrist" is better recognised internationally as the nomenclature for a person who deals with diseases of the foot. While "chiropody" has been in common parlance here, it would be better to use the more internationally recognised term. I did not have the good fortune to learn Greek at school, but I gather that "podiatrist" means physician of the foot whereas the practice of chiropody includes the hand and the foot. While it has been suggested that one could include a reference to "podiatrist-chiropodist" in the Bill, I was reluctant to suggest this usage as I have not seen it used in legislation previously. I do not know what the Parliamentary Counsel would think of that.

We can solve the issue of those who call themselves chiropodists in my amendment No. 24 which, inter alia, states: "In this Act, the titles Podiatrist and Chiropodist are synonymous and both titles use are restricted exclusively to those professionals who are registered as Podiatrists." The qualification for a person to be on the professional register is bachelor of science in podiatry. We have many problems with this in Ireland as we do not have any school of podiatry that awards a bachelor of science degree and it is difficult to know when one will be set up. That is why some of my later amendments on podiatry have to be taken into account. Given that we want to proceed with the legislation, it would be advisable to ensure that the terminology used is accepted internationally and that chiropodists are included by stating that the title is synonymous if they have the relevant degree.