The Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has told the Medical Independent (MI) she is open to having a formal meeting with the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC) to discuss the Council’s concerns about the legislation underpinning its remit.
Earlier this year, MI reported how PHECC wrote to the Minister at the end of 2025 stating the current legislative framework presents an “unacceptable risk” to the public.
Speaking to this newspaper on 7 May at the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s Annual Delegate Conference in Dundalk, Co Louth, the Minister confirmed the Department of Health is working with PHECC on the matter.
“There are… some questions about what can be done by regulation, and what is necessary in terms of legislation,” Minister Carroll MacNeill told MI.
“There is always a bit of back and forth on that, particularly with the Attorney General’s Office, on what is actually needed in legislation. So that’s a dialogue [PHECC is] having with my Department at the moment.”
The Minister revealed she met with PHECC Chair Dr Tomás Barry at the IMO Annual Meeting in Killarney in April on an informal basis. “I will be having a more formal meeting when that work is just a little further advanced between the Department and the Council,” she said.
In a letter on 19 December 2025, Dr Barry informed the Minister: “It is inexplicable that the need for modern robust legislation governing the regulation of pre-hospital emergency care, and the practice of paramedicine, has still not been addressed, despite being raised as a priority matter of concern with the Department of Health for over 10 years.”
Dr Barry also advised that the legislative deficiencies “continue to impede the important development of two new grades of specialist paramedic”.
According to The Future of Paramedicine, published by PHECC in 2016, the Council has limited ability to apply robust sanction measures to protect the public, but also to maintain standards and public confidence in the profession.
PHECC does not have the power to restrict a practitioner’s registration through the imposition of conditions or the suspension or cancellation of registration. PHECC can only determine whether a practitioner should be advised, admonished, or censured, and must rely on a service provider to limit or restrict the practice privileges of a practitioner. The current arrangements also do not incorporate protection of title.
The Department recently told MI it was “working closely with PHECC in respect of its legislative framework including items identified by PHECC as priorities for amendment”.
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