Doctors practising outside the State

I am registered with the Medical Council and usually practice medicine in Ireland but plan to take a short break to practice medicine overseas (less than one year)

Doctors registered with the Medical Council but practising medicine outside the State must maintain their professional competence and follow requirements set by the Medical Council.
If you usually practice medicine in Ireland, are enrolled with a professional competence scheme operated by a recognised postgraduate training body and plan to take a short break to practice medicine overseas, you should contact the professional competence scheme. In general, a short break (less than one year) will be easy to accommodate by continuing to engage in maintenance of professional competence activities while practising overseas and making up any deficit on return to usual practice in Ireland. Contact details for the professional competence schemes can be viewed here.

I am registered with the Medical Council and usually practice medicine in Ireland but plan to take a long break to practice medicine overseas OR I am registered with the Medical Council but usually practice medicine outside of Ireland

A doctor based overseas can maintain their professional competence in line with requirements set by the Medical Council.

A doctor may achieve this in either of two ways:

Doctors practising medicine in countries where there are already established structured maintenance of professional competence type programmes in place (e.g. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America) can pursue requirements to maintain competence in the jurisdiction in which they are practising medicine using such an established structured maintenance of professional competence type programme. Engaging in activities to maintain professional competence in line with requirements set by the Medical Council will be straightforward and doctors pursuing this approach will find that the requirements set by the Medical Council are very similar to the requirements of other structured maintenance of professional competence type programmes.

A doctor practising overseas pursuing this approach to maintenance of professional competence who comes to practice medicine in Ireland will enrol in a professional competence scheme operated by a recognised postgraduate training body in Ireland when a cumulative total of greater than 30 days per year has been spent in the practice of medicine in Ireland.

If an EEA State citizen is fully established to practice medicine in another member State, the doctor may practice medicine in Ireland on a temporary and occasional basis without having to take out specialist or general registration.

A doctor may choose to voluntarily withdraw from the Medical Council’s register and seek restoral upon return to practice in the State.