The Medical Council is "actively engaging" in the case of a UCD medical student whose sexually explicit image was circulated via college emails and to a large student WhatsApp group.
The student previously described how a sexually explicit image of her was sent anonymously to more than 170 university staff accounts - and separately shared among hundreds of students.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the Medical Council is "aware" of the case and is "actively engaging with the associated parties to get more information.
The minister said the Medical Council has a responsibility to ensure that "everybody in the doctor profession, including those in the UCD medical school, meet the required standards for medical education".
Speaking in the Dáil, Ms Carroll MacNeill said she expects the Medical Council to make "full use of its powers" in regard to accreditation and inspection of all training sites.
Department of Health officials are engaging with the Medical Council on this, she said.
She was responding to People before Profit-Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger, who said: "Thousands marched yesterday in support of a medical student who was raped and who had image-based sexual abuse committed against her on three occasions."
Thousands of students at UCD took part in a rally yesterday in solidarity with victims of sexual violence and to call on their university to do better in addressing the issue and supporting students.
"The college and the school of medicine has clearly not acted properly to deal with this situation," said Ms Coppinger.
The Minister for Health acknowledged that it was a "truly shocking case", that she was "deeply concerned".
Ms Coppinger said the "whole country" is "standing behind this student".
She called on the minister to ensure "this medical student can complete her medical degree within her original timeline or as close as possible to it rather than being forced to spend years longer in college because of the perpetrator's actions".
The TD added: "She wants to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor. I ask the Minister to intervene to ensure this can happen."
Ms Carroll MacNeill said: "UCD will put its full support behind this young woman to give her the best opportunity to succeed in her course, as she or anybody is entitled to do."
The minister said incidents of gender-based violence are "unacceptable in any context and must be reported to An Garda Síochána".
She said incidents that occur in the health sector and involve medical practitioners should be reported to the Medical Council.
"The idea of a medical practitioner of any kind doing harm to any person, particularly a woman, is anathema to all of us and does not bear thinking about," she added.
