Concern among medical regulatory authorities that doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and other health professionals from abroad could come and work in Ireland without registration under new EU rules are to be conveyed to officials in Brussels by the Tánaiste tomorrow.
The regulatory authorities, including the Medical Council, claim the new rules, which propose to allow medics from abroad to work here for 16 weeks at a time without registration, and therefore without having their qualifications checked by relevant regulatory bodies, could put patients at risk.
Together with An Bord Altranais, the Dental Council, the Opticians Board and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, the Medical Council called on the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, yesterday to seek an amendment to the proposed Recognition of Professional Qualifications directive when she travels to Brussels this week.
Ms Cicely Roche, president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, said that under the proposed directive it was possible a patient on medication for heart disease could end up having their medication dispensed by a bricklayer.
The president of the Medical Council, Prof Gerard Bury, said if the proposals went ahead there was nothing to stop a health professional struck off the register in another EU state working for up to 16 weeks here without ever coming to the attention of the Irish regulators.
"It means that if someone is mistreated by an unregistered health professional, they'd have no recourse to the Irish authorities. We would have no record of their presence and no ability to track them down."
He said he welcomed qualified professionals from other EU countries coming to work in the State when their qualifications could be checked by the council or other regulatory bodies. "We cannot afford to have people practising in the Irish healthcare system when we cannot independently confirm that they are actually medical practitioners. It's unacceptably dangerous and has to be greeted with real alarm," he said.
The directive could result in doctors practising without indemnity or in doctors setting up independently without having their credentials checked out as the Medical Council would never even know they were here.
Ms Ann Marie Ryan, chief education officer of An Bord Altranais, the nursing board, said there were no substantial safeguards in the directive against a person who falsely represented themselves; who was not sufficiently qualified or who had restrictions imposed on their practice abroad; or who had been found guilty of professional misconduct abroad.
Dr Joe LeMasney, president of the Dental Council, said the directive proposed standards of education and training for dentists that were originally adopted 24 years ago, ignoring all the advances that had come onstream since then.
Following a joint press conference by the regulatory bodies, the Department of Health, in a statement, said the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, also had "a number of concerns" regarding the directive.
The statement confirmed the directive would be discussed at a meeting of the EU Competitiveness Council in Brussels this week, and Mr Martin had outlined his concerns to Ms Harney, who would represent Ireland.
A spokeswoman for Ms Harney said she would represent the views of the Department of Health and Education at the EU meeting. The spokeswoman emphasised the new regulations would not be finalised until a later date.
The new regulations, which could also require the Irish regulatory authorities to recognise lesser qualifications for registration from applicants from other member-states than those required from Irish nationals, have already met with considerable opposition across Europe.