Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Dr. Brides spoke about the regulation of certain talk therapies. The Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy has been trying for years to get a regulatory underpinning of the work it is doing. I do not want to stray too far from the topic we are discussing but I know the association has been talking to other members of this committee about its frustration about being able to provide a service but not having a regulatory framework to do it. It seems to be taking forever. This may be a reflection of where we are in general with this sector.

The witnesses spoke about workforce planning or the lack of it, and the changing demographics of medicine. Many different groups would come before this committee representing the diversity of Ireland's population. The witnesses spoke about people entering training and rapidly backing out again, which is a problem. Is there any commentary the witnesses can offer about the diversity of those seeking training? Is there a realistic prospect in the future of seeing services in communities staffed by people who represent them? I will not go too far down into the diversity of the communities but it is important when we are talking about medicine and the diversity of people who are going and training in different sections. As the witnesses said, we do not even have workforce planning so perhaps this is a comment that is too far down the line.