Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My own experience and, I think, the experience of the majority of people is that opticians do this anyway. They are professional in their approach and if they spot something they believe requires further investigation, they usually advise the patient accordingly. However, I think the legislation is robust enough to provide that if an optician spots something but does not inform the patient, it can be considered a dereliction of duty. Significant penalties can be imposed in such circumstances, including removal of registration, which has the effect of taking away a practitioner's livelihood.

The amendment would also impose greater obligations on this group than we have imposed on others. We should not do that. Senator Barrett is correct but when one goes for a eye-sight test or to purchase new contact lenses, I am not certain that "patient" is the correct word. This is probably the only profession that allows for that sort of equality of status in respect of how we interact with practitioners. Any person who has an opinion on this, whether patient or client, can respond to the public consultation. It will be interesting to hear their responses and I am sure most people who go to an optician hope they will leave with nothing more than a new pair of glasses. In the event that something else occurs, I know from the experience of friends that they were informed when something required further investigation. As it happens, this advice saved them a great deal of grief. The current provisions are sufficiently robust and we should not impose on opticians, ophthalmologists or any other group of similar professionals an obligation that we have not imposed on others.