Education and Training

Recognition of New Medical Specialties

The Medical Council is responsible for determining, with the consent of the Minister for Health, the medical specialties that it recognises under the Medical Practitioners Act 2007. It should be noted that the medical specialities recognised shall include such medical specialties as may be designated as applying to the State in any directive adopted by the Council of the European Communities relating to specialised medicine.

As at 1st March 2012, the Medical Council recognises 52 medical specialties and these specialties are listed here.

When an application is received by Council from medical disciplines who wish to be recognised as a specialty, Council applies a number of criteria to the application to decide whether an initial case for recognition has been made. This preliminary review is referred to as Stage One and is completed by members of the Medical Council.

If Council decides that an initial case for recognition has been made, the application proceeds to a more comprehensive review. This review is referred to as Stage Two and includes a period of public consultation. Stage Two is completed by members of the Medical Council who will consult with external assessors in reaching their decision to approve, or not approve, an application for recognition.

Full details of the criteria and the recognition process can be found here.

Information for Aspirant Specialties

Please note:

  1. An aspirant specialty should notify the Council if it intends to seek recognition; this can be done by writing to the Education and Training Section at the Medical Council's offices or by e-mailing ROS@mcirl.ie. A completed questionnaire should only be submitted once the Medical Council has asked an aspirant specialty to do so.
  2. Council has given an undertaking to complete Stage One of the process (explained in the documentation) within six months of the start of the process. Stage One of the process is deemed to have started when Council gives formal notice to the aspirant specialty that this is the case and the requested documentation / fee has been received.Council has given an undertaking to complete Stage Two of the process (explained in the documentation) within nine months of the start of Stage Two. Stage Two of the process is deemed to have started when Council gives formal notice to the aspirant specialty that this is the case.
  3. Information on the fees payable for the recognition of a new specialty is available on request.

Previous Public Consultations

The following public consultation closed on 24th May 2013

The following public consultations in relation to recognition of specialties were completed in 2011:

  1. Intensive Care Medicine.pdf
  2. Neonatology.pdf

Information Session - 2010

An information session for aspirant specialties (as well as for aspirant postgraduate training bodies and proposed programmes) was held on 27th October 2010 at the Medical Council's offices in Kingram House. All material introduced at that meeting is presented below.

Presentation - Protocol for recognition of medical specialtie.pdf
Presentation - Approval of postgraduate programmes and bodies.pdf