Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 March 2026
140. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Health to report on her efforts to improve medical training to counter gender bias in the medical profession; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17501/26]
View answerThe Medical Council is the regulator of doctors in Ireland and has a number of statutory functions, including setting and monitoring the standards for medical education and training in Ireland across undergraduate, intern, and postgraduate stages. All medical schools in Ireland and their medical degree courses are accredited and monitored by the Medical Council.
As part of its monitoring role, the Council conducts inspections of clinical training sites to assess compliance with its standards and guidelines for clinical training and experience. Part of the assessment process involves evaluating compliance with the World Federation of Medical Education standards on gender bias and gender-based violence within the broader framework of the learning environment, student safety, and equity.
Where necessary, the Medical Council can issue recommendations to site management on areas needing improvement. It can also remove approval from a training site where it determines that the Council’s guidelines or standards are not being adhered to.
Separately, my Department has worked with the Irish College of General Practitioners to improve gender sensitivity among both qualified GPs and GPs in training. The Women’s Health Fund has invested in the development and dissemination of education and training materials by the ICGP. In addition, the ICGP’s Women’s Health Programme provides high quality educational opportunities in women's health topics for GPs and other healthcare professionals and appointed its first ever Clinical Lead in Women’s Health in 2022.
