Ms Deirdre Walsh:

In a sense we are talking about rogue counsellors in a scenario involving a crisis pregnancy. As Ms Cody said, the reason we engaged in public consultation was that there were individuals who were referred to as rogue counsellors dealing with eating disorders and operating in a vast range of areas, including suicide prevention. That is one of the reasons we are trying to bring these issues to the surface and provide for regulation, but the Deputy's point is valid in that it will be difficult to capture such persons, even in situations which do not involve a crisis pregnancy. Other jurisdictions have attempted to do so and not been successful. We are now attempting to do so. The point the Deputy is making is that somebody will not come forward for registration, yet he or she will still provide a service. I think Ms Cody covered that point in her opening statement.

The issue regarding regulation, whether one is a dietician, a speech and language therapist or whatever, is that they can change to a different title, so regulation does not catch everybody. That is a problem and it is not just in the area of counselling. It could be dieticians or others, so it is a difficult issue to capture.