Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 26 Jan 2000

Vol. 513 No. 1

Written Answers. - Counselling Services.

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Cowen):

There is currently no legislation governing the provision of counselling services and those employed as counsellors are subject only to regulatory regimes and guidelines operated by their respective professional bodies.

Services such as those in the attached advertisement, namely spiritual healing, fall under the area of alternative or complementary medicine. The current position in relation to alternative or complementary medicine in Ireland is that it is not regulated by statute as practitioners of alternative or complementary medicine are not employed within the public health service.

With regard to the control of standards and codes of practice in this area, the Department's policy has been to encourage the various therapeutic groups to establish their own regulatory structure and to develop mechanisms to inform the general public about the availability of services from reputable therapists. Many of the therapeutic groups have adopted this system of self-regulation.

It is recognised that it is desirable to afford some protection to the public who wish to use such therapies. The legal position of practitioners of complementary or alternative medicines is that their dealings with their clients are regulated by civil law.

There are proposals before the European Commission at present to consider carrying out a research study into the area of complementary or alternative medicines. Any such study will undoubtedly investigate the subjects of safety, effectiveness and area of application. It is anticipated that on completion, this research project will result in state registration of some type in each member state.