Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014

Amendment of section 38 of Principal Act

22. Section 38 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)(b), by inserting “subject to subsections (1A) and (2A) to (2D),” before “holds”,

(b) in subsection (1)(c), by inserting “(including, subject to section 40A, physically and mentally a fit and proper person)” after “fit and proper person”,

(c) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) (a) Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) does not apply in the case of a person seeking registration as a member of the designated profession of optometrist if he or she was at any prior time registered in the Register of Optometrists within the meaning of the Act of 1956.

(b) Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) does not apply in the case of a person seeking registration as a member of the designated profession of dispensing optician if he or she was at any prior time registered in the Register of Dispensing Opticians within the meaning of the Act of 1956.”,

(d) in subsection (2) —

(i) by substituting “Subject to subsections (2A) and (2D), a person holds” for “A person holds”,

(ii) in paragraph (b), by substituting “that Directive,” for “that Directive, or”,

(iii) in paragraph (c) (ii), by substituting “of the person, or” for “of the person,”, and

(iv) by inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (c):

“(d) the person is a person, other than a person referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c), who—

(i) was lawfully engaged in the practice of that profession for a period of not less than 5 years, and

(ii) holds a qualification (being a qualification that has never been, or that has formerly been, a qualification within the meaning of section 3(1)) awarded in the State—

(I) listed opposite that profession in the third column of Schedule 3, or

(II) prescribed under section 95 for that profession.”,

and

(e) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (2):

“(2A) Subject to subsection (2B), a person seeking registration as a member of the designated profession of optometrist shall not be registered as such unless he or she has undergone such courses of training and passed such examinations that, immediately before the relevant day, were specified for the purposes of section 24 of the Act of 1956 in rules made under section 18 of that Act.

(2B) Subject to subsection (2C), subsection (2A) shall cease to be in operation immediately upon the coming into operation of a bye-law (if any) made by the Optical Registration Board relating to—

(a) the designated profession of optometrist, and

(b) a matter falling within section 31(1)(c).

(2C) Subsection (2A) shall not cease to be in operation by virtue of subsection (2B) in the case of a person seeking registration as a member of the designated profession of optometrist who has, before the coming into operation of the bye-law referred to in subsection (2B), undergone the courses of training referred to in subsection (2A) and passed the examinations referred to in subsection (2A).

(2D) Subject to subsection (2E), a person seeking registration as a member of a designated profession (other than the profession of optometrist) in respect of which the registration board of the profession has not yet made a bye-law relating to that profession and on a matter falling within section 31(1)(c) (or, if the board has made such bye-law, the bye-law has not yet come into operation) shall not be registered as such unless he or she holds a qualification (not being a qualification within the meaning of section 3(1)) awarded in the State that renders that person eligible to be appointed as an employee of the Health Service Executive to perform, as such employee, the functions of a member of that profession.

(2E) Subsection (2D) shall cease to be in operation in relation to a particular designated profession immediately upon the coming into operation of a bye-law (if any) made by the registration board of that profession relating to that profession and on a matter falling within section 31(1)(c).”