The implementation of the 2007 Medical Practitioners Act has been significantly delayed and will not now come into effect until mid-2008.
And it has emerged that the Medical Council is one of the 19 health sector bodies covered by emergency legislation to be introduced in the Dáil next week.
The Irish Times has learned that members of the current Medical Council, who had expected to leave office next month, have been asked to remain available for fitness to practise committee and council meetings until the end of April.
According to an informed source, it is expected to be June of next year, at the earliest, before the existing council is dissolved.
As a result there may be a delay of at least six months in implementing key aspects of the Act aimed at improving patient safety, including a lay majority on the Medical Council and new measures to assess doctors' competence on an ongoing basis.
This delay is not linked to the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which is thought to focus on a minor rewording rather than any substantive change to the new Medical Practitioners Act.
But there is concern in the Department of Health that if the new Act was implemented in full in January as originally planned, it could have a significant effect on the recruitment of foreign doctors to work here. It is now expected that elements of the Act will be signed into law by the Minister on a piecemeal basis.
