Public Consultation on proposed amendments to the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005; the Medical Practitioners Act 2007; and the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011; and the Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Act 2020.

The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, has commenced a public consultation on legislation which proposes to amend the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005, the Medical Practitioners Act 2007, and the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011 and the Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Act 2020. The Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill is on the Government’s Autumn Legislative Programme for drafting.

The consultation is being conducted pursuant to Directive 2018/958 of the European Parliament, which requires a proportionality test to be carried out by Member States before the introduction of new, or the amendment of existing, professional regulations that restrict access to, or the pursuit of, regulated professions. The Directive was transposed into Irish law in August 2022 (SI 413/2022). As the Bill is proposing to amend existing regulatory provisions in the Acts referred to, a proportionality assessment to examine these amendments is being carried out. As part of this assessment, the views of interested parties on the proportionality of relevant amendments are being sought via an online survey.

Any personal information provided in this survey will be treated strictly in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 and the Data Protection Act 2018. Please note that requests for release of information provided in survey responses can be made under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 and the Department may be required to release this information. If you have any queries in relation to this, please e-mail opendisclosurepolicy@health.gov.ie. The findings from the public consultation will assist the Department of Health in completing its Proportionality Assessment on the measures identified, which in turn will be submitted to the European Commission in accordance with the Proportionality Test Directive.

The survey is being hosted on the EU Survey platform and should take no longer than 30 minutes to complete. Excluding information about you, the survey asks 16 questions. For each question, you will be asked whether the amendments proposed are proportionate, and the answer options are 'Yes', 'No' or 'No view'. You will also be able to provide a brief commentary in a free text box under each question (if required).

To view the survey and participate, click HERE

To view the consultation click the button below.