Vol. 514 No. 3
194 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the discussions, if any, he will have with his English counterpart in view of the fact that Irish medical school training is no longer automatically recognised as suitable for entry into internship programmes in the United Kingdom. [4036/00]
Concern has been expressed to the General Medical Council regarding changes for limited registration. However, the position is that the GMC is the statutory authority which registers all medical practitioners in the UK. Until 1 January 2000 non-EU nationals, with Irish primary medical qualifications, were eligible to apply for limited registration in the UK. Following a review by the GMC, all non-EU doctors who wish to apply for limited registration are now required to either pass a test of professional knowledge and skill, known as the PLAB test, or provide other objective evidence of their capability for medical practice in the UK.
The new arrangement is not as a result of any concern in relation to the standards of undergraduate medical education in this country. According to the GMC, this new arrangement reflects overall policy that, subject to the constraints imposed by UK and EU law, registration should be based, not on doctors' place of qualification, but on an assessment of their knowledge and skill at the point of registration. Under the new arrangement the position of EU nationals with Irish primary qualifications, and of other doctors with enforceable Community rights, are not affected.
