William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)
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687. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason his Department does not accept medical certificates issued by a private medical insurer (details supplied) for the purpose of an application for illness benefit; if he plans to change this rule; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62222/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The department primarily accepts medical certificates from GPs on the certifier panel. The institution that a GP works for is not a deciding factor on whether they can join the panel. All panellists must be registered with Irish Medical Council, sign a declaration confirming that they have received and read the Medical Certifiers Guide, and the Closed Certification Guidelines issued to them by the department, and that they will adhere to the policies and procedures outlined in the two documents when issuing medical certificates and/or reports.

Certificates must be submitted on the department’s official forms (either electronic or physical).

Recently, following a review, the acceptance criteria has been expanded to include short-term certificates of incapacity from hospital doctors for both inpatients and outpatients.

I have asked officials in my Department to review the acceptance criteria, and the further broadening of accepted certificates will be considered in due course.