I draw the Minister's attention to the fact that restrictions in the Medical Practitioners Act, 1978, may be discriminatory and contrary to EU employment law. In order to study medicine in the United Kingdom or the North of Ireland, after completing a degree, a graduate cannot obtain a place as an intern in an Irish hospital because of the provisions under section 37(2) of the Act. We are discriminating against Irish nationals who want to work at home. In the past we did not have sufficient places for them to attend medical school in Ireland and they were forced to accept places in Northern Ireland or the United Kingdom.
Ironically, non-nationals who pursue medicine in UCD, UCC, NUIG, TCD or the Royal College of Surgeons can obtain such places in Irish hospitals. UCD has a conferring arrangement for medical students in universities in Malaysia. It is possible for a Malaysian student conferred by UCD to come to Ireland to practise as an intern in Irish hospitals, even though an Irish person is debarred because he or she has trained in the United Kingdom.
Funnily, UK students who study medicine in Ireland can act as interns in Irish hospitals. Therefore, the Minister will understand the frustration, anger and sheer bewilderment of Irish parents with the provision in an Act which they believe favours non-nationals and discriminates against their son or daughter.
One case has come to my notice. It pertains to a young girl who graduated in June 2000 with an honours degree in medicine. She already held an honours degree in physiology and is a graduate of UCC. She is a Cork native and married to a Corkman. She has been travelling to and from the United Kingdom at weekends to ensure her marriage survives. She applied for an internship in Ireland, but was refused on the basis of the appendix under the provisions of the Act. In June, if she applies for an internship in the United Kingdom, it means she will be away from her husband for another year.
In June 2002 she will be unemployed, although, statistically, she has two honours degrees. The present section of the Bill is inequitable. It is out of date, nor is it in line with the tenets of any Anglo-Irish agreement put in place. Surely, it must be contrary to EU law pertaining to the freedom of movement of workers. Fortunately, it is possible through ministerial regulation for the Minister to change the appendix by declaring that medical students who qualified at recognised medical colleges in Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom can and should be competent to act as interns in Irish hospitals. This is possible by regulation and by holding discussions with the Medical Council. It is not necessary to change the Medical Practitioners Act to allow fair play to an Irish person who is extremely competent and well trained and wants to come home and work here in a system which needs such outstanding graduates.