Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 April 2024
282. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Health the progress made in respect of regulating psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists in light of the number of issues in the media with the lack of regulation of such professionals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17229/24]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, CORU is Ireland’s multi-profession health and social care regulator. CORU’s role is to protect the public by regulating the health and social care professions designated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (as amended), including setting the standards that health and social care professionals must meet to be eligible for registration and maintaining registers of persons who meet those standards.
Seventeen health and social care professions are designated for regulation by CORU. There are currently registers open for twelve professions and CORU is continuing the substantial work required to open the registers for the remaining designated professions of Psychologists; Counsellors and Psychotherapists; Clinical Biochemists; and Orthoptists.
The Psychologists Registration Board (PSRB) was established in 2017. The work of the PSRB includes consideration of the titles to be protected, the minimum qualifications to be required of existing practitioners, the qualifications that will be required for future graduates, and drafting the Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes.
Regulating a new profession is a complex and lengthy process, requiring careful consideration and preparatory work to ensure that it is effective in protecting the public. Psychology has been a uniquely challenging profession to regulate due to the diversity of its specialisms (for example clinical psychology, counselling psychology, occupational and work psychology, sports and performance psychology) and the fact that there is no common education pathway or standards for entry to the profession.
In 2020 a public consultation on the draft Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes developed for the profession revealed significant issues and a lack of consensus on how to proceed with regulation. Key areas of disagreement among the profession are around the minimum level of qualification required for entry to the profession, the number of placement hours, and the appropriateness of practice placement settings.
Having considered the matter on the request of CORU and the PSRB, I wrote to the PSRB in 2022 requesting the PSRB consider a dual-stream and phased approach to regulating the psychology profession.
In April 2023 I accepted the PSRB’s recommendation to prioritise regulation of three psychology specialisms – clinical, counselling, and educational psychology. Work is proceeding to establish education and training standards for these specialisms and identify the technical legislative amendments to the 2005 Act that will enable registers to open. The PSRB has now commenced its work to establish the education and training standards for entry to each of these three divisions, and to identify technical legislative amendments required to enable the opening of these divisions of the register.
In parallel, an Expert Advisory Group has been convened by CORU to examine and make recommendations on a regulatory model that will facilitate regulation of the psychology profession. This includes international regulatory and professional experts. The Expert Advisory Group is working towards making recommendations to me by the summer recess.
The Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board (CPRB) was established in February 2019. The work of the CPRB includes consideration of the titles to be protected and the minimum qualifications to be required of existing practitioners and the qualifications that will be required for future graduates. The work of the CPRB is significantly more challenging than it is for registration boards for some of the more established professions owing to the different and complex pathways into these professions, the variety of titles used, and the variety and number of courses and course providers.
The introduction of regulation to the counselling profession is a top priority for CORU. Extensive work has already been carried out by the CPRB to achieve this. Most recently a public consultation was held on the Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes for the counselling profession.
The CPRB is now reviewing the many responses received during this consultation. Following this extensive review activity, the CPRB will communicate the next steps in the process towards introducing statutory regulation for counsellors.
Owing to the significant body of preparatory work that the PSRB and CPRB are required to undertake, it is not possible to say with any degree of accuracy when the professions of psychology, counselling, and psychotherapy will be fully regulated. I would anticipate that these registration boards will require a number of years to complete their work.
