Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

I am disappointed the Minister of State has chosen to take the line he has and am surprised he feels that education has little or no role to play in the functions of the council because those who are involved in education and training feel very differently. This is particularly so, given the nature of the professions that are being defined, their responsibilities within the health and social care areas, the changes that occur in such responsibilities and the effect that has on education and training. It is important that there be a significant education component in the workings of this council.

Amendment No. 8 aims to ensure that a representative of the institutes of technology be considered for such a role on the council because it is not directly defined. On those grounds, I am seeking to change the allocations of educational representatives and general representatives from one and nine to two and eight, respectively. The Minister of State's amendments seek to change the number of general representatives to six, with three related to the area of employment. If the Minister of State thinks the employment area rates three times more highly than the education area, that reveals a significant flaw in the workings of the Bill as it progresses towards Final Stage.

I wish to declare an interest in that my third level qualification in the social care area was achieved in the institute of technology sector. It was formerly called a child care qualification, which was achieved in the 1980s. It was a very loose use of terminology. It has since been changed to a degree in community care because in the 1980s formal qualifications for people working with community and youth sectors were not readily available in the Irish educational system. The institutes of technology, or the regional technical colleges as they were then, stepped into the breach to fill that gap. A significant expertise was developed in the institutes of technology in Cork, Athlone and Sligo, and they subsequently developed a competence in social care education in Waterford, Limerick and Dublin. It is now the pre-eminent provider of educational training for social care professionals. As we debate the Health and Social Care Professionals Bill, it is important to recognise that fact in the formation of the council. First, the educational component should be given due recognition and, second, the importance of the institute of technology sector should be given proper weight in the formation and subsequent workings of the council.

On these grounds, I hope the Minister of State will veer from his opening statement and accept that there is a need to give such recognition to a representative of the institutes of technology and to accept the spirit of what is being proposed, at least, in amendment No. 8. Amendment No. 10 is a technical amendment which depends on what the House decides in regard to the Minister's amendments relating to the nine general representatives and three subsequent representatives from the employment sector. Even at this stage, I ask the Minister to formally protect and acknowledge in the legislation the educational representative from the institute of technology sector.

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