We aim to create the environment and opportunities for our members to flourish and deliver a wider range of services to patients. We respond to public consultations on behalf of members and work directly with the government and policymakers at senior level, so that eye health is taken seriously. This page tells you more about our policy and advocacy work.

In this section:

• Our goal
• Shaping the future
• Policy submissions
• Partnerships

Our goal – better eye care for all

By working collaboratively with all sector partners, we will achieve better eye care for all by:

• Making eye care an integral part of population and public health
• Protecting patient rights to access eye care in an equitable way
• Making sure no child’s visual development is adversely affected because of delays in care
• Preventing sight loss due to delays in care
• Securing the workforce, infrastructure and funding necessary to deliver world-class primary eye care services.

Shaping the future

We do this by:

• Supporting our members by horizon scanning and helping shape the future of eye care services in the Republic through our expertise in health policy, regulation, economics and advocacy. We support regulation that works in the public interest and robustly challenge over-bureaucratisation, which adds costs but no benefit for patients.
• Initiating, influencing and responding to policy developments and proposed changes in legislation and regulations that affect our members. We also submit evidence on eye care services and eye health to government bodies and the Oireachtas.  
• Analysing and responding to consultations on behalf of our members and the wider sector, including health professions regulation, commissioning, health financing, clinical guidelines and business regulation. We do this to protect and advance eye care services for all.

Policy submissions

Our health policy experts work and speak up for you, so you and your patients can look forward to a positive future. Each year we analyse legislation, regulations, contracts and government and HSE policy on your behalf and respond to consultations. See our responses below.

2023

• Pre 2024 Budget submission - the appendices can be shared with members upon request
• Review of the Occupations Lists for Employment Permits 2023
• FODO Ireland submission to the Department of Social Protection 2023-26 Strategy

2022

• Policy Framework for Open Disclosure 

2021

• Pre 2022 Budget submission
• Review of the Occupations Lists for Employment Permits

2020

• Review of the Occupations Lists for Employment Permits
• CORU draft Statement of Strategy 2021-2025

2019-2013

• Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics for Dispensing Opticians and Optometrists
• Pre 2019 Budget submission
• Optical Registration Board consultation - DIT Ophthalmic Dispensing Degree
• Framework for a Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics
• Pre-2017 Budget Submission
• Draft Code of Conduct
• CORU Consultation on Standards of Proficiency for optometrists, dispensing opticians and dispensing opticians with entitlement to fit contact lenses
• Regulation and control of prescribing and dispensing of prescriptions and sale of spectacles bye-law
• HSE: Primary Eyecare Review
• Universal Health Insurance - Public Consultation on the White Paper
• CORU Corporate Strategy - 2013-2016
• CORU consultation on Continuing Professional Development, FODO Ireland & IADO joint response to CORU
• Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Act

Partnerships

We support collaborative working with other organisations for the benefit of our members, patients and in the public interest. We also work in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, both nationally and internationally, in support of the eye care sector. 

FODO Ireland is one of five professional representative bodies for eye care. Alongside the Irish College of Ophthalmologists (ICO), Association Of Optometrists Ireland (AOI), Irish Association of Dispensing Opticians (IADO) and Irish Association of Orthoptists (IAO), we work to serve the nation’s eye health needs and prevent avoidable sight loss.  

For example, we have published joint guidance and submissions to public consultations in partnership with the AOI and IADO. We also work in partnership with the AOI to run Healthy Eye Awareness Week.

The campaign promotes the importance of eye health and the need for regular eye exams. It encourages the people of Ireland to make positive changes to their diet and lifestyle to improve their eye health.

We are an active member of the European Council of Optometry and Optics (ECOO). ECOO enables professionals across Europe to share clinical knowledge, good business practice and expertise. It lobbies in Europe to make sure eye care professionals can meet needs in a safe, effective and sustainable way – for example, on the classification of fluorescein strips.

We also work closely with the two European bodies representing manufacturers – the European Federation of Manufacturing Opticians (EUROM1) and the European Association of Contact Lens Manufacturers (EuromContact) – in particular on regulations relating to spectacles frames and lenses and contact lenses.

We are a member of the European Coalition for Vision (ECV), which works to raise the profile of eye health and vision. It brings together the professions, industry, charities and academics to deliver better eye health for Europe.