John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

In fairness, I do not think the amendment makes any reference to general practitioners; the reference is to registered medical practitioners. I presume the intention is to refer to the appropriate speciality as opposed to the general practitioner. However, I am not in a position to support it. It is well-meaning but is a narrow amendment. Codes of conduct, codes of practice and professional competencies are already in place which probably cover the intention of the amendment. I see one or two unintended consequences if we were to accept it, one of which is that it would restrict practice immediately. To use my own profession as an example - I am a psychiatric nurse - nobody would have thought 15 years ago that the profession of psychiatric nursing or nursing in general would have expanded to fill the role it has now. We would not have imagined the roles of nurse prescriber, registered clinical nurse manager or psychiatric nurse specialist. The profession has expanded in a way we could not have imagined. If there were provisions in the Nursing Act that precluded that kind of expansion, it would lead to all kinds of trouble. We will see emerging competencies in all professions as we move forward. It would be wrong of us to seek to restrict that.