Council board members have written to Minister for Health Mary Harney to inform her of their serious concerns with the wording in the new bill, and asking that it be changed.

"Under the old bill, there was no definition for professional misconduct, and most cases worked off the definition laid out by Justice Keane in the O'Leary case, " said Dr John Hillery, President of the Council. "But under the new bill, we basically have a diluted version of that definition.

Our legal advice has said that it will mean that the Council will find it much harder to find people guilty who would almost certainly have been found so under the current act . . . [and] that it is unlikely that Dr Neary would be found guilty using the new definition, " he said. "Obviously, we can't know that for certain, but even the fact that it is a possibility is a serious concern for us."

The Council is proposing that the definition be either amended or deleted altogether from the Medical Practitioners Bill.

"The letter went out to the minister last Thursday, and we're hoping to meet with her soon to discuss the matter, " said Hillery. "I think the only reason that the Department would refuse to change the wording would be if their legal advice disagrees with ours. If that happens, we'll just have to deal with it then."