Special Purposes Committee

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) Council has established a Special Purposes Committee as an Advisory Committee of the Council. This Committee is established under the Pharmacy Act 2007 and under the PSI (Council) Rules of 2008 and 2015.

The overall purpose of the Committee is to advise the President on matters falling within his/her remit which arise between scheduled meetings of the Council.

1. Membership and Appointment

The members of the Committee shall consist of:

• The President,
• The Vice-President,
• The Chair of the Regulatory and Professional Policy Committee,
• The Chair of the Performance and Resources Committee,
• The Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.

2. Reporting and Review

The Committee will formally report in writing to the Council, through a report from the Committee, which will be presented by the President to the next public meeting of the Council following a meeting of the Committee.

The Committee will review its own effectiveness annually (including these Terms of Reference), and report on the results of that review to the Council. 

3. Advisory Responsibilities

The Committee will advise the Council on:

• Recommendations for appointments to any of the other Advisory Committees and the Disciplinary Committees,
• Recommendations in relation to how the PSI Council governs its own business.
• Any matters which require convening the Committee, and any recommendations or considerations in relation to those matters.

4. Other Responsibilities

In addition to its advisory responsibilities, the Committee is also responsible for:

• Identifying any matter or issue which should be referred to any of the other Advisory Committees, to the Registrar and/or where a working group should be established.
• Overseeing a process and procedure to maintain sufficient membership and succession planning for the Advisory Committees in line with their Terms of Reference.
• Providing feedback to the President as part of the performance appraisal process of the Registrar.

5. Meetings and Support

Meetings of the Committee shall function as follows:

• The Committee will meet a minimum of twice annually and as and when required by the President.
• The requirement to meet shall be identified by the President, in consultation with the Registrar.
• The quorum for a meeting of the Committee shall be three members to include the President or Vice-President.
• The Registrar will normally attend meetings of the Committee and will arrange for the Committee to be supported by PSI staff.
• To support accurate record-keeping and the preparation of meeting minutes, PSI staff will deploy transcription software or other appropriate tool(s) to generate a transcript of all Special Purpose Committee meetings, whether held in person, hybrid, or fully online via Microsoft Teams. Committee members will be informed at the start of each meeting that transcription is enabled. The output/recording will be treated as a confidential record and managed and securely deleted in accordance with PSI’s data protection, governance and retention policies. The use of transcription software or recording technologies during a closed session of the Committee is strictly prohibited.