Ms Deirdre Walsh:

No, prior to the introduction of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act, when there was not a State regulator for health and social care professionals, the standard was to be a member of a professional body. Sometimes, one would see the HSE, and the health boards prior to that, when stating their qualifications in requirement for recruitment, they would state that an applicant had to be a member of the professional body. That has been replaced by the State regulator. One is not obliged to be a member of a professional body, however, generally one would find that virtually all practitioners are for reasons of professionalism as distinct from a statutory regulation.