James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 41:

In page 20, to delete lines 9 and 10 and substitute the following:"3. Physiotherapist registered in the register of members of that profession.

4. Speech and language therapist registered in the register of members of that profession.".

This schedule specifies professions or occupations for the purposes of specifying classes of persons to be mandated persons for the purposes of the Bill. It is proposed to delete paragraph 3, which refers broadly to the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005, and to insert new paragraphs 3 and 4 which specifically add physiotherapists and speech and language therapists to this schedule. The intention is to focus on the key professionals set out in the Act rather than apply the legislation to all those listed. It has been suggested that occupational therapists should also be included due to their engagement with children, in particular children with disabilities. It is intended to bring an amendment forward on Report Stage for this purpose but in order to do so, it will be necessary to flag this on Committee Stage, which is what we are doing.