Council elections loom

Dear Editor,
As you have recently reported, the appointment of the new Medical Council in its new format, with a politically-appointed majority, is to take place within the next six weeks. The new Council will have 12 medical representatives and 13 politically-nominated ones.
For the first time in the history of the Council, it will be under almost direct political influence from Hawkins House. The Minister will nominate those whom she (currently) and (s)he (in the future) will feel confident will exert the Ministerial will in the operations of the Council.

This is a very dangerous precedent, and as Sir Graeme Catto of the General Medical Council (GMC) has recently stated in relation to the GMC’s new 50:50 medical:political appointee division, it is all important that the new Council “retain the confidence of both the public and the profession”.
The Medical Council Membership Support Committee (MCMSC) has campaigned tirelessly over the past two years for a reconsideration of the medical/political nominee split, arguing cogently and consistently that the best interests of the public are served by the presence of a medical majority, even if it means increasing the size of the Council to facilitate the expediting of the various cases before the Fitness to Practice Committee and the activities of the other Committees.
Our position has not changed and we will continue to campaign for a return to medical majority on the Council. In the meantime, we have taken stock of the constant correspondence we have received and we have decided to contest the elections of the new Council so as to ensure the best possible medical representation on the Council.
This is an imperative. If we are to be in a minority on the Council, we must be a very strong and resilient minority. We will represent the best interests of the public, the remit of the Council, but we will do so by ensuring the continued confidence of the profession in the activities of the Medical Council. We appreciate the very high level of support we have received from our colleagues in the profession. We will not let our colleagues down. We will next week be naming the six candidates we will be endorsing for the various sub-specialty representations. We will be nominating six candidates and we would urge the profession to support us in this endeavour.
We acknowledge with sincere gratitude the support of the various medical bodies, most notably the Association of General Practitioners, but also the many hundreds of individual members of the IHCA and the IMO, as well as the non-aligned practitioners who have chosen to endorse our election campaign. I will, as has been reported in the medical press, be standing in the election in the category of ‘any registered medical practitioner’.
My five MCMSC colleagues will be standing for election in the subspecialties which the Minister has seen fit to allow representation. We will seek to ensure that in the future, there is a far more democratic representation of the various subspecialties.
In the meantime, I wish to reassure our colleagues in the subspecialties not represented in the election process that they will be represented to the very best of our ability in the lifetime of the new Medical Council. We will be relentless in our efforts on your behalf, which will in turn be in the best interests of those whom we ultimately represent, the Irish people.
Thank you for your support.
Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill,
MB., DPM., MRCPsych., Dip. Cog. Therapy.
Consultant Psychiatrist, Chairman and PRO, MCMSC, Sallins, Co. Kildare.