Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. I welcome this Bill. I am astounded that we did not have this before. It seems neglectful in respect of the trauma patients might be put through. Coming from the perspective of health, in the past there have been people, of whom I would be very aware, who have not been up to scratch and whose practice would not have been the best. Despite that, these people seem to have gone through the rigmarole of An Bord Altranais or whatever. Several years ago it was discovered that these certificates were fraudulent. English authorities contacted An Bord Altranais to say they had found many of these fraudulent certificates. It is a double-whammy of checks and balances if one has to have the insurance and be with the Medical Council. It will make it a lot more difficult to fly below the radar and have extremely poor practice for those who may never have been trained at all. I welcome the Bill and the protection of patients. We need to have redress in respect of what may go wrong.