The Intern Year provides medical graduates with the opportunity to experience the reality of patient care in a range of healthcare settings.

The intern year should provide an appropriate combination of education and training and clinical responsibility, enabling interns to develop the professional and personal competencies that result in good patient care and provide a foundation for lifelong learning.

The Intern Year is the first level of postgraduate medical training and is an essential step in every doctor's career. It should be a challenging and rewarding year, providing graduates with a supervised and supportive learning environment that will provide them with the basis for future practise as a medical practitioner in their chosen field.

Successful completion of the intern year leads to the award, by the Medical Council (of Ireland), of a Certificate of Experience. This Certificate is required for eligibility to apply to the trainee specialist division or general division of the Register of Medical Practitioners maintained by the Medical Council (of Ireland) and, therefore, to proceed with a medical career in the Irish health service. The Certificate of Experience is also required by most other competent authorities in order to register in other countries.

There are six Intern Training Networks, each based around an existing Medical School. Intern posts are structured so that all modules take place within a single intern network.

An initial core curriculum has been devised by the Intern Network Coordinators, building on previously published Medical Council guidelines for intern competencies. This is under discussion by the Medical Council's Intern Training Sub-Committee. The national Intern Training Programme is currently being developed and it is envisaged that some modules will be available for the 2011/12 intake to internship.

A national application and matching process is in place for intern posts in Ireland. The application process for Stage 2 closed on Friday 13th April 2012.