But that does not make it Class 1 medical standards.
IR requires a Class 2 with an audiogram conducted by your normal AME. The audiogram is conducted to Class 1 standards because they are the only standards for hearing.
Night qualification is nothing to do with medical other than the colour vision requirements.
Quite so. In my head, I equate the two, but I know that's not correct. Hence my clarification.
My point was simply that there is a lot of talk about "let's try and get the IMC rating replaced by an accessible IR", but (putting aside the time/money constraints), this will still be inaccessible to some pilots who currently hold an IMC rating.
Therefore, my response to the original poster that the differences aren't just down to training, etc., but that it is possible to obtain one but not the other on medical grounds. (Audiogram also being one of those grounds, of course.)