Marie O Mir sets out her stall as the the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists' new chief

Marie Ó Mír has said she is passionate about physiotherapy and is ‘absolutely delighted’ to have taken over as chief executive of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP).

Her predecessor, Ruaidhri O’Connor, spent 17 years at the helm of the 3,000-strong member organisation and helped ease Ó Mír into her new role in Dublin before his departure.

Dr Ó Mír said: ‘My key focus is on growing the membership, through excellent professional and development support as well as advocacy.’ She first joined the ISCP in 2020 as an advanced practice project officer, advocating for the physiotherapy profession on a larger stage and helping to establish a career and education pathway for physiotherapists.

One topic that’s likely to be near the top of Dr Ó Mír’s agenda is a physiotherapist’s right to refer patients for X-rays. ‘I look forward to engaging with the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive as these issues progress,’ she noted.

My key focus is on growing the membership, through excellent professional and development support as well as advocacy [Marie Ó Mír]

As highlighted in earlier PhysioUpdate article, Dr Ó Mír is very concerned about the recruitment and retention crisis currently engulfing physiotherapy in both the public and private spheres.

‘Our future is our students and recent graduates and I look forward to engaging with them on how the ISCP can serve them and also how beneficial volunteering with the ISCP can be, both personally and professionally.’

Dr Marie Ó Mír is a practising physiotherapist and academic researcher with more than 26 years of clinical experience under her belt.

She completed her PhD in University College Dublin in 2019 on the topic of advanced practice physiotherapy in paediatric orthopaedics. As part of her studies, she completed modules in health management and health economics.