Under the EU Professional Qualifications Directive (Directive 2005/36/EC), I, as Minister for Health, am the competent authority for several health and social care professions. This includes those with clinical, counselling or educational psychology qualifications who wish to practise their profession in the publicly funded health sector in Ireland.
The Department of Health, through the Validation Unit, administers the process on my behalf. The assessment processes of the Directive are also applied to qualifications which are outside the Directive’s scope (i.e. non-EEA qualifications or EEA qualifications of non-EEA nationals).
The Department is advised in the process by the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI). The PSI has established an Expert Validation Committee (EVC) to assess applications and make recommendations to the Department.
The general system of the EU Professional Qualifications Directive provides for an assessment, on a case-by-case basis, of the qualifications of an applicant against those required to practise in the host member state (i.e. Ireland). This assessment examines whether an applicant’s qualifications have ensured they have developed the required clinical/counselling/educational psychology competencies.
If the activities covered by the profession in the home and the host member state are not comparable, then the qualifications cannot be recognised. If the activities are comparable but deficits in the qualifications are identified, subsequent post-qualification professional experience of the applicant must be considered. If deficits still remain, the host country (Ireland) may require an applicant to complete a compensation measure.
