Speech: Dr Suzanne Crowe, IAMRA Welcome Ceremony, 3rd September 2025

Welcome to the IAMRA Conference in Dublin

Lord Mayor Councilor Ray McAdam, friends and colleagues, my name is Dr Suzanne Crowe and I chair the Medical Council in Ireland.

We are delighted, really honored to host you as delegates and as an organisation that promotes the regulation of the training and practice of medicine. Many of you have travelled long distances and your excitement in being here is palpable. Some have postponed other work commitments and perhaps some family time to be here. We are most grateful.

This year, the theme of the 16th International Conference on Medical Regulation is "People-focused regulation for a safer global community". I cannot think of a more timely and all-encompassing theme than this one.

Our regulation must be focused on people, as healthcare is people. Humanity is present in our work, where our shared values of care, trust, respect, autonomy and fairness are found.

As the needs of people change, so must regulation, being flexible enough to wrap around healthcare, be it in a area of high or low resources. Our community of healthcare staff is global. It has been for many decades. But migration of healthcare staff is now one of the biggest challenges and opportunities in our world, and regulation must be nimble and supportive to keep patients safe. Migration is increasingly being driven by the twin spectres of climate change and conflict. Doctors are moving regions more than ever before – away from conflict and climate change, and towards it.

We watch with tears in our eyes as humanitarian workers are targeted, kidnapped and killed in Gaza, Yemen and Sudan. The double hit on a hospital in Gaza last week is an atrocity that is unimaginable and yet now forms part of the enormous risks faced by healthcare staff in war. It is difficult to find our shared values and humanity in scenes such as these. Increasingly, humanitarian workers appear to be considered as targets, perhaps because they represent an international presence on the ground, and perhaps because of the comfort and hope that they provide. We see the rise in famine and disease outbreaks, injuries, and death due to population displacement, overcrowding, and poor access to aid.

I want to be very clear that the Medical Council stands in solidarity with the humanitarian efforts of doctors, nurses, aid workers, and everyone who is working to save lives in Gaza and around the world. As Dr Tedros, Director General of the WHO said last month, sudden and steep cuts to foreign aid are now causing the most severe disruptions to health systems since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. These cuts are becoming increasingly common among major donors in Europe and the United States, which has a direct impact on the most vulnerable populations.

Ireland has contributed much to international aid missions, responding to war and natural disasters; with healthcare and logistics staff volunteering as part of organisations such as Médecins sans Frontieres and the International Red Cross. Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine have been steadfast in their support for people suffering in Gaza.  In recent years there have also been smaller Irish-led missions into Haiti, Ethiopia, Vietnam and Ukraine, focusing on providing healthcare, humanitarian aid, and peacekeeping. In our six medical schools, generations of students have fundraised and worked in countries in need of basic medical aid. They leave a legacy of medical training and return home with a new understanding of the meaning of healthcare which they carry forward.

Throughout the conference this week, we will share experience and knowledge, debate direction and incite change in regulation and healthcare. I have no doubt that it will be a time in Dublin that you will not forget, and that will leave you with new ideas, colleagues and collaborators.

I hope you enjoy our beautiful city while you are here.

Go raibh mile maith agat agus failte romhat!