The High Court refused an applicant leave to seek judicial review of the Medical Council’s handling of his application to transfer to Ireland’s Specialist Division of the Register of Medical Practitioners.
In a judgment delivered on 28 July 2017, Mr Justice Robert Eagar found that the applicant had no arguable case for automatic recognition of his qualifications under the EU Directive on professional qualifications. The court also found that he had failed to disclose material background when seeking leave.
The applicant said the Council had failed to recognise his Spanish specialist qualification or respond meaningfully to his applications within the time limits he described. He alleged breaches of natural and constitutional justice and legitimate expectation, and sought remedies including an order requiring the Council to act.
The Council opposed leave. Its affidavit said the applicant’s current request to transfer to the Specialist Division was first closed in August 2016 because he had provided no supporting documents. He submitted a fresh application later that month with a Spanish registration certificate. The Council sought information from Spanish, Dutch and Swedish authorities. Spain confirmed on 3 March that the applicant had been professionally recognised as a specialist, but on the basis of a Swedish certificate that had been withdrawn in September 2003. At the time of the judgment, the Council had received no replies to its queries from the Dutch or Swedish authorities.
The Council also set out earlier registration proceedings. It said the applicant had first been entered on the General Division in 2003 and had sought specialist registration that year on the basis of a Swedish certificate. The Council refused that application in 2004. The applicant’s internal appeal and subsequent judicial review were unsuccessful, including an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Justice Eagar held that the Directive did not require the Council automatically to recognise the applicant’s specialist qualifications. Recognition by Spain did not bind Ireland, and qualifications based on a Montserrat certificate did not oblige the Council to register him. The judge relied on the principle that recognition by one member state of a qualification awarded by a non-member state does not bind other member states.
The court further found that the applicant had not disclosed the prior High Court and Supreme Court proceedings or that his Spanish registration rested on the withdrawn Swedish certificate. Those matters weighed against granting leave. The court refused leave to apply for judicial review; the judgment did not determine the pending specialist-registration application itself.