Appointments to the Medical Council Board:

The Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD has appointed/reappointed the following persons as members to the Medical Council Board.

Candidate Biographies:

Dr Margaret O Riordan

I am a medical member of the Irish Medical Council appointed in June 2021 with my first term of off office due to expire in May 2026. I chair the Monitoring Committee and am a member of the Preliminary Proceedings Committee and the Registration and Continuing Practice Committee. I have participated in training provided by the Medical Council related to Corporate Governance over the past 5 years.

I was a member of the Ethics Committee that worked on the 9th edition of the Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Medical Practitioners published in 2024. I chaired a working group established by the council to address the area of overprescribing of Benzodiazepines, Z drugs and Gabapentinoids. This was a multi-stakeholder group with representatives from the Department of Health, the HSE, the HPRA and the PSI and produced its report in February 2025

I have 33 years’ experience as a General Practitioner having worked in a rural Tipperary General Practice until my retirement in 2023. I worked at a senior management level in the Irish College of General Practitioners as Medical Director from 2010 to 2016 and National Director for Specialist Training in General Practice from 2000 to 2010.

I served on the board of the Irish College of General Practitioners from 2019 to 2021 and was President of the Irish College of General Practitioners from 2020 to 2021. I served as a member of the Postgraduate Medical and Dental Board from 2006 to 2008.

Dr Louise Kavanagh McBride

Dr Louise Kavanagh McBride is an academic, researcher, nurse and President of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI). She is a NMBI registered nurse and nurse tutor, holds a PhD, Fellowship of NMRCSI, MSc in Nursing Science, Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Health Science Education (TCD), Higher Diploma in Orthopaedics and a Diploma in Psychology (RCSI), Certificate in Accident & Emergency Nursing (MMH) and a Diploma in Management and Industrial Relations (NCI). She is Head of Department of Nursing & Health Care, at ATU Donegal Campus Ireland. She is principal investigator/partner/mentor on several Irish and European research funded projects in the area of college students mental health and wellbeing and Digital Healthcare solutions. She is currently President of the NMBI since January 2023 originally nominated by the Minister of Health as board member for the Technological Higher Education Association (THEA) nursing representative since December 2015.

Ronan Quirke

Ronan Quirke is a practicing Community Pharmacist and an Adjunct Senior Clinical Lecturer at the School of Pharmacy in UCC, as well as holding a teaching appointment at the School of Pharmacy, TCD.

He is a former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland and is a current member of the Medical Council of Ireland.

Jill Long

Jill Long is a chartered physiotherapist with extensive experience of professional practice and regulation. She is a Past-President of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP) and is currently a member of the ISCP Professional Procedures/Ethics Committee and chair of the ISCP Registration Committee for Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Practice.

She is a lay member of the Medical Council and the Dental Council, serving on their Fitness to Practise Committees. She is chair of the Health Committee of the Medical Council.

She is a registrant member of the Preliminary Proceedings Committee of Coru, a lay member of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, and a lay member of the Northern Ireland Social Care Council. She has previously served as a lay member of the Fitness to Practise Committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, and as chair of the Preliminary Proceedings Committee of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland.

Jill was appointed to the Medical Council following a Public Appointments Service campaign and her first appointment is from 14 June 2021 to 31 May 2026.