Pharmacist Ciaran McGivern, registration number 2211524, was removed from the register after the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) heard he had committed a number of offences, including drug driving and the theft of around £175-worth of Easter eggs.
At hearings between December 16 and 19, the GPhC’s fitness-to-practise (FtP) committee heard that McGivern was convicted in 2021 of driving after taking cocaine and “using a motor vehicle without third-party insurance”.
According to the hearing document, drugs “liable to misuse, abuse or overuse” were also found in the car he was driving “in circumstances unconnected with [his] pharmacy practice”.
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It said the drugs discovered in the car included controlled drugs, unlabelled prescription-only medication and medicines “which, if taken together, can be used as a recreational drug known as ‘purple drank’ or ‘lean’”.
The GPhC acknowledged that there “were no previous regulatory findings against” McGivern.
But it said “multiple offences and misconduct” took place between 2021 and 2023, which shows “a pattern of behaviour rather than an isolated lapse” - and that his convictions and cautions “involve dishonesty and deception”.
Theft and fraud
In addition to the misconduct that took place in 2021, the committee heard that McGivern was cautioned at Ballymena Magistrates’ Court in May 2023 after stealing around £175-worth of Easter eggs from a Tesco store in Antrim.
The regulator said that in August of the same year, McGivern was convicted at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court of driving without third-party insurance.
And just days later, it added, he received a caution for fraud at Newtownabbey Police Station after renting one property and attempting to rent a second “while misrepresenting [himself] as another individual in order to avoid financial checks”.
Lack of honesty
The GPhC said McGivern also failed to report his cautions and convictions to the regulator within the required seven-day timeframe, which “demonstrated a lack of honesty, integrity and trustworthiness”.
It added that carrying, storing and transporting of drugs “liable to misuse, abuse, overuse and recreational use” in an unsafe manner “posed a risk to public safety” and “fell significantly below the level of professionalism” expected of pharmacists.
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The committee said McGivern’s conduct “consisted of a string of serious and wide-ranging failures both to abide by expectations of him as a professional of integrity and…to abide by the law”.
It stressed that his behaviour reflects a “pattern of wilful disregard for legal and ethical obligations imposed on him as a pharmacy professional” and “will not be easily remediable”.
And it found that the risk of repetition “remains high”, given that McGivern “has not engaged with” the regulatory process and has “not provided any evidence of insight, remorse or reflection on the impact of his actions”.
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The GPhC determined that McGivern’s fitness to practise is “currently impaired on grounds of public protection” and in the public interest, and that his conduct “merits an order of removal”.
It said that striking McGivern from the register is “the only outcome which would adequately protect the public from the risk of harm” and “protect the wider public interest by maintaining public confidence” in the pharmacy profession and in the regulator.
Read the determination in full here.
