Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 109: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the protection the medical practitioners Bill will provide for patients against foreign practitioners who may have been the subject of medical negligence claims in the past; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16074/05]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 110: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the protection the medical practitioners Bill will provide for patients against foreign practitioners who may have had restrictions placed on their practice; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16075/05]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 111: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the measures contained in the medical practitioners Bill which will regulate the area of cosmetic surgery; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16076/05]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 138: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if the medical practitioners Bill will address publicity stunts by foreign cosmetic surgeons offering their services for free in return for national media exposure; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16532/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 109, 110, 111 and 138 together.

The Medical Council is the independent authority charged with primary responsibility for the registration and regulation of medical practitioners in the State. The function of the Medical Council is to protect the public by implementing appropriate regulation of the medical profession. All doctors practising medicine in Ireland, whether they hold Irish or other nationality, should be registered with the Medical Council. It is an offence under the Medical Practitioners Act for a doctor to falsely represent himself or herself to be a registered medical practitioner when he or she is not registered. Registration is required to sign medical certificates and issue prescriptions for certain categories of drugs. In addition, doctors are not entitled to recover in legal proceedings fees charged for the provision of medical or surgical advice or treatment given when they were not registered.

All medical practitioners are regulated by the council in the same way, including doctors practising cosmetic surgical procedures. A new medical practitioners Bill, which is currently being drafted by parliamentary counsel, will increase the requirements on all medical practitioners in a number of ways. Medical practitioners from outside Ireland who wish to practise in this country will be subject to the same professional and ethical requirements as Irish medical practitioners. Among the many changes I propose to introduce are a clear compulsory requirement for registration for all medical practitioners, changes to the fitness-to-practice process, the introduction of a mandatory scheme of competence assurance for all doctors practising independently and a much increased public advisory and information role for the council. I intend also to significantly increase the non-medical representation on the council itself to best ensure that public safety and protection is given the highest possible priority by the council as it develops in the future.

The new Bill will greatly strengthen and enhance the powers of the Medical Council. I propose that the Medical Council should have the powers to investigate cases of individuals who are not registered with the council and who are providing services proper only to registered medical practitioners. Section 49 of the Medical Practitioners Act 1978 gives the Medical Council the power to have persons convicted of indictable offences, whether in Ireland or in another jurisdiction, erased from the medical register. Under the new Bill, I propose some enhancement of Section 49 to give the council more flexibility in this regard.

A doctor will be required to make a declaration to the council of his or her entitlement to be registered and the status of any registration he or she may hold in this or any other jurisdiction. Persons will be required to notify the council of any changes in circumstances such as a change in the status of their registration with another regulatory body in the State or in another jurisdiction. Where a person fails to do so, the council could instigate fitness-to-practice proceedings.

My Department has no role in the restriction of the advertising of doctors' services applicable in this or any other jurisdiction. The Medical Council produces a guide to ethical conduct and behaviour in accordance with section 69(2) of the Medical Practitioners Act which addresses advertising by medical practitioners and the provision of ethical advice generally. The most recent edition of the guide was published in 2004 and includes guidelines on advertising in the media and practice announcements. The council is in a position to consider alleged breaches of the guide in respect of doctors who are registered with it.

These and other new provisions of the Bill should afford greater protection to the public. I expect to be in a position to publish the Bill before the end of the year.