Press Release: Friday 24 October 2025
Minister for Health launches Public Consultation on the Proportionality of the Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill
Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill T.D., has today launched a public consultation on the proportionality of proposed legislative amendments by the Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill. This Bill includes amendments to a number of Acts which underpin the regulation of health and social care professionals, medical practitioners, nurses, midwives and pharmacy owners.
The Proportionality Test Directive (EU) 2018/958, which became part of Irish law in 2022, asks governments to make sure that any new or updated rules for regulated professions are fair, reasonable, and not overly restrictive. This consultation is about getting feedback on whether the proposed changes meet those standards.
Within this public consultation, one of the key proposed changes aims to enhance the efficiency of fitness to practise processes within both the Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI). These improvements will help ensure robust protection of the public, while enabling complaints to be investigated and resolved in a more timely and effective manner.
In addition, to support the expansion of the role of Health and Social Care Professionals in specific clinical areas in the future, the amendments will enable CORU’s registration boards to set standards for and approve post-registration training programmes linked to specific activities that are considered to carry particular risks to the public—such as referring for x-rays. Registrants who hold the additional competencies to perform such activities may apply to have this highlighted on their registration so that the public are aware of the competence of the practitioner to perform the activity.
The Bill also proposes several other operational, technical and consequential amendments aimed at improving the overall efficiency of the legislation.
Information on the public consultation, including how to take part, is available here.