Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 July 2013
515. Deputy Dan Neville asked the Minister for Health the position requiring those advertising psychotherapy and counselling services to alert the public to the fact that psychotherapists and counsellors are not currently regulated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005. [33165/13]
View answer516. Deputy Dan Neville asked the Minister for Health the position regarding the registration of psychotherapists and counsellors under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 as promised by him during the committee debate on the Health and Social Care (Amendment) Bill 2012 on 9 November 2012 [33166/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 515 and 516 together.
Under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005, the Minister for Health may designate a health and social care profession if he or she considers that it is in the public interest to do so and if specified criteria have been met. The 12 professions to be regulated under the Act are clinical biochemists, dieticians, medical scientists, occupational therapists, orthoptists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, radiographers, social care workers, social workers and speech and language therapists. Five registration boards have been established to date and a sixth will be established shortly. The registration boards and their registers for the remaining designated professions should be established by 2015.
Whilst the immediate priority is to proceed with the establishment of the registration boards for the twelve professions currently designated under the Act, as I indicated back in November 2012, I am committed to bringing counsellors and psychotherapists within the ambit of the Act as soon as possible.
In relation to advertising, I feel that, given the timing and legal complexity of the issues involved, we should be focussing on achieving the regulation of counsellors and psychotherapists rather than bringing forward primary legislation to require them to include a notification that they are not yet subject to statutory regulation. Notwithstanding that a number of counsellor and psychotherapist national groups have come together as the Psychological Therapies Forum to advise as a single voice for the professions in so far as is possible, a number of issues are still being clarified.
These include decisions on whether one or two professions are to be regulated, on the title or titles of the profession or professions, and on the minimum qualifications to be required of counsellors and psychotherapists. In relation to the latter, Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), the successor to HETAC, has established a Standards Development Group for Counselling and Psychotherapy which aims to establish standards of knowledge, skills and competence to be acquired by candidates for educational qualifications that will be required for careers in counselling and/or psychotherapy. This is an essential prerequisite to regulation of the profession. The QQI Report is expected to be completed later this year or early in 2014. In addition, the standards of proficiency to be required of existing practitioners for registration will need to be established and the necessary qualifications prescribed.
The Department will be engaging with the Psychological Therapies Forum and other relevant stakeholders as soon as the QQI report is available and will work through the outstanding issues with a view to achieving regulation of counsellors and psychotherapists as soon as possible in the best interests of the protection of the public.
