Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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513. To ask the Minister for Health to establish a mechanism through which a complainant may appeal a decision reached by the Medical Council in respect of alleged malpractice as part of the complaints process concerning a medical doctor's fitness to practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6785/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Medical Council is designated as the regulatory body for all registered medical practitioners under the Medical Practitioners Act 2007. It has a statutory role in protecting the public by promoting the highest professional standards among medical practitioners practising in the Republic of Ireland. The Medical Council is also where the public may against a medical practitioner. Parts 7, 8 and 9 of the Act set out how complaints are managed by the Council.

When the Medical Council receives a complaint, a case officer is assigned to help the Preliminary Proceedings Committee (PPC) investigate the complaint. From the PPC the complaint may be referred to the Fitness to Practice (FTP) Committee, where a final determination on the doctor's fitness to practice is made by the Council based on the evidence provided to the FTP Inquiry and the FTP Committee's report.

I have no plans to establish a mechanism by which a complainant would have right of appeal of decision made by either the PPC or the FTP Committee as part of the complaints process.