Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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That is a slightly different issue but I hear the Deputy's point on the amendment. I share her concern and I interrogated the issue at length with officials. Essentially, the following happened. In the Bill as we discussed it on Second Stage, the employer route was not included. In order to comply with the EU directive post Second Stage, there was a public consultation. Social care workers were spoken to and employers and CORU were engaged with. We have thousands of social care workers across the country. The competence-based exam would reflect much of the college training, which covers all of the different sectors. There is training in homelessness, disability, addiction – various different areas. Many social care workers will have spent their entire career in addiction services, disability services or homeless services and have never been trained in all the different areas. The view expressed was that while an awful lot of them are excellent healthcare professionals who are highly trained and experienced and definitely should be on the register, they have not been trained in all these other areas and, as such, will not pass the competency exam. What would then happen is that thousands of social care workers would potentially be told they cannot work where they are working or in their profession.

In this amendment, we are trying to find the best outcome for patient safety. A person may have ten years’ experience in homeless services. CORU has to be satisfied of the bona fides of the employer. If that person’s employer can certify their experience, and CORU is satisfied with the individual evidence given, which has to be given according to very strict guidelines set out by CORU, that person can be grandfathered in. That is part of the grandfathering process, which is normal enough. Whenever we do this, there is a grandfathering period for those who do not have a college degree or whatever it might be. This is the best outcome.