Ms Deirdre Walsh:

The titles are restricted for the protection of members of the public because when one registers, one must meet certain criteria, namely that one must have an approved qualification, be a fit and proper person, which is essentially a form of vetting, one must subject oneself to continuing professional development, CPD, and adhere to the professional code of conduct and ethics. One must have that package in order to be registered and by being found to meet that standard, one has an entitlement to use the title. If the title were not protected, someone like myself could come along and set myself up as a dietitian or a speech and language therapist, never having met any of those requirements. The idea is to protect the title.

The way the 2005 Act is constructed, each register has protected title at the end of the two year transition period following the opening of the register. However, there is a fine line between protecting a title and over-protecting titles, therefore there is an option of protecting a variant, as we are doing here, when evidence has emerged that there are people who are seeking to practise who are not registered. Rather than protect a series of titles from the outset, one protects the main title, and, subject to evidence emerging of abuse of the system, one protects a variant but one is careful not to over-protect or to protect ten titles.