Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take amendments Nos. 11 to 15, inclusive, together.

These amendments are consequent on Dáil amendments on Committee Stage. They relate to section 29 of the Bill, which amends the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 to allow a small cohort of practitioners to apply for registration with the Physiotherapists Registration Board. The Bill as passed by the Dáil amends the 2005 Act in two ways. It deletes a restrictive date requirement for receipt of a particular qualification and, consequently, extends the time allowed for persons to apply for registration with this board from 31 December 2019 to 31 December 2021. However, as currently drafted, extending the registration window from 31 December 2019 to 31 December 2021 was dependent on the Bill being enacted before the end of 2019. This did not happen and the registration window closed on 31 December 2019.

If the Bill is enacted as currently drafted, it will incorrectly imply that the registration window has remained open. Accordingly, the amendment proposed here is a corrective measure. It addresses the fact that there is now a period when a cohort of applicants is unable to apply for registration with the Physiotherapists Registration Board. It also allows applications which were received by Health and Social Care Professionals Council, CORU, prior to 31 December 2019 but where no decision has been reached by the board on them to be considered as valid applications, removing the need for an applicant to make a second application. Furthermore, it extends the window of registration for qualifying applicants from the date of the commencement of the Bill until 30 June 2022, which I trust will provide adequate time for these applicants to avail themselves of these registration provisions.

The amendment also clarifies that any application received during the current period when the application window is closed, that is, between 31 December 2019 and the commencement of the relevant section in the Bill, is not to be considered by the registration board, although it is open to any applicant to reapply when the application window reopens. Finally, the amendment also provides that applicants seeking registration under this provision will be required to comply with return-to-practise by-laws in the same way as is required for other applicants for registration on the Physiotherapists Registration Board.

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