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

I thank the Senator. Despite the fact that I know this amendment is so well intentioned as to give politicians more powers, I am not certain it is the type of power we should have. I am opposing the amendment. It runs counter to the trend in modern Irish legislation to give health regulators responsibility for financing their statutory public protection functions through the annual fees by registrants, as the Senator has pointed out.

The key principle underpinning such legislation is that regulators should be independent, self-funding and free from political interference. For that reason the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005, the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 and the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011 all provide that fees for registration and retention of registration are set by the regulators themselves. Each regulator is required to ensure that it has sufficient funds to perform its functions under the relevant legislation. While the bulk of the annual running costs of the health and social care professionals and its registration boards, known collectively as CORU, are currently being funded by the Exchequer, the intention is that the CORU regulatory system will in time be self-funding when all registers are up and running. This is the case with the other health regulators responsible for regulating doctors and nurses.

The Health and Social Care Professionals Council is obliged to manage its financial affairs in a prudent manner and there are a number of supervisory mechanisms in place. The Department of Health is responsible for the oversight of the corporate governance of the council and the registration boards established under the Act. It also holds the council to account in its performance of its functions and ensures adherence to Government policies relating to staffing numbers and their pay and conditions. Each year when its accounts have been audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General they are presented to the Minister for Health, laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and published.

The current legislation strikes the right balance between independent regulation and political oversight. To take away the council's power to charge registration fees would, I believe, be a retrograde step and would undermine CORU's ability to perform its legislative functions and to achieve its objectives to protect the public. I greatly admire the Senator's confidence in the political system.