Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not doubt the Minister's bona fides, but Ministers have been giving me similar assurances for eight years. Implementation of the 2005 Act was to be self-financing through charges for registration and certification. We are not asking the Minister to set up a registration board before his work has been completed, but the Bill offers him the ability to make a decision on it. Nothing was done about the 12 bodies already designated until 18 months ago. I am not saying he should set up the registration board immediately, but I want to give counsellors and psychotherapists the same status as dieticians, social workers and physiotherapists under the Bill. We will be told again that the 12 designated professions will be dealt with first. The work is not being done in a chronological order because the second last profession on the list is being considered. If psychotherapy and counselling are added, we will not expect the Minister to establish the registration board before he is ready to do so. We want to give psychotherapy and counselling the same status as the other 12 professions in order that in future we will not be told, in an answer dictated by the Department, that they cannot be included until the others are designated. We do not want the matter to languish for another eight years.