Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming before the committee and for their evidence. Following approval of the regulations, it will be an offence - down the line, obviously, not the following morning - for someone to represent himself or herself as a counsellor if he or she does not fulfil the minimum requirements and is not appropriately registered. Will the witnesses confirm this and confirm what powers there are in this regard, if any? There are very specific incidents in which people represent themselves as counsellors. In some circumstances they deal with women, in particular women in crisis, and they call themselves counsellors when they are very clearly not and they could really damage women, certainly women in desperate situations. What penalties are available if someone misrepresents himself or herself as a counsellor, or is this something for the future? Now that the title is protected, which obviously is a very good thing, what penalties exist? Are they similar to those that exist for those who pretend to be nurses or members of other protected professions?