What we do

The Medical Council regulates doctors to practise medicine in the Republic of Ireland. Our statutory role, as outlined in the Medical Practitioners Act 2007, is to protect the public by promoting and better ensuring high standards of professional conduct and professional education, training and competence among registered medical practitioners.

Key responsibilities of the Council include;

Maintaining the ‘Register of Medical Practitioners’, a register of all medical practitioners legally entitled to work in Ireland
Ensuring high standards of medical education and training
Setting standards for the maintenance of professional competence
Promoting good medical practice
Investigating complaints against medical practitioners

The Council has a membership of 25 including both elected and appointed members. Under the provisions of the Medical Practitioners Act, 2007, the new Council is comprised of 13 non-medical members and 12 medical members representing a range of medical specialties, teaching bodies and members of the public and stakeholders, all of whose appointments have been approved by the Minister for Health and Children. The current Council's period of office is 2008 to 2013. The Medical Council is funded exclusively by the annual payments of registered doctors; no funds are received from government or other sources. The annual retention fee for a fully registered doctor has been set at €490 from 1st July 2009.

In July 2010 there were a total of 19,083 doctors registered with the Medical Council.

The Medical Council Corporate Governance documents can be downloaded below;