S.I. No. 451/2015 - Optical Registration Board Conditions for Registration in the Contact Lenses Division of the Register of Dispensing Opticians Bye-Law 2015.


Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 23rd October, 2015.

The Optical Registration Board, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by section 31 of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (as amended), with the approval of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, hereby makes the following bye-law:

1. (1) This bye-law may be cited as the Optical Registration Board Conditions for Registration in the Contact Lenses Division of the Register of Dispensing Opticians Bye-Law 2015.

(2) This bye-law comes into operation on 31 October 2015.

2. In this bye-law—

“the Act” means the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (No. 27 of 2005) as amended from time to time;

“the Act of 1956” means the Opticians Act 1956 ;

“applicant” means an applicant for registration in the Contact Lenses Division of the Register;

“the Board” means the Optical Registration Board;

“the Register” means the Register of Dispensing Opticians established and maintained under section 36 of the Act;

“the relevant day” means the day on which section 2 of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 is commenced.

3. For the purposes of sections 31, 37 and 38 of the Act, the Board has determined that where a person wishes to have his or her name entered in the Contact Lenses Division of the Register, the conditions set out in this bye-law must be satisfied and that person must provide satisfactory evidence of his or her compliance with this bye-law in his or her application for registration.

4. In order to be eligible for registration in the Contact Lenses Division of the Register an applicant must:

(1) demonstrate that he or she meets the requirements for registration in the General Division of the Register; and

(2) provide a certificate of entitlement to fit contact lenses issued by Bord na Radharcmhastóirí; or

(3) provide such evidence as may be required by the Board from time to time of satisfactory completion of a programme of education and training in the fitting of contact lenses that, in the opinion of the Board, attests to the applicant’s having achieved a standard of proficiency corresponding to the standards set by the Board for entry into the Contact Lenses Division of the Register.

5. For the avoidance of doubt, all persons who were immediately before the relevant day registered in the Register of Dispensing Opticians within the meaning of the Act of 1956 with entitlement to fit contact lenses shall on the relevant day be deemed to be registered in the Contact Lenses Division of the Register in accordance with section 36A(2) of the Act.

6. An applicant who wishes to resume the practice of the profession in the Contact Lenses Division of the Register after not having practised in the area of the profession now confined to persons registered in the Contact Lenses Division of the Register and previously confined to registrants in the Register of Dispensing Opticians within the meaning of the Opticians Act 1956 with entitlement to fit contact lenses or at all, for such period as the Board may specify, shall comply with such criteria or conditions as the Board may specify from time to time for the purposes of section 31(1)(fa) of the Act.

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GIVEN under the seal of the Optical Registration Board

21 October 2015.

PETER McGRATH,

Chairperson, Optical Registration Board.

and

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OWEN BLEE,

Member, Optical Registration Board.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the bye-law and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).

This bye-law sets out the criteria for entry to the Contact Lenses Division of the Register of Dispensing Opticians established by the Optical Registration Board.