Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and welcome the Bill. It is important that social care workers applying for registration are required to meet the same safe standard as all other CORU professions. I welcome that work is being done by the Social Care Workers Registration Board to ensure that the registration of social care workers will open on 30 November 2023. I wish this had happened in 2022, as promised. I have concerns about the hundreds of social care students who do not know whether their degrees will be accredited. This is because new entrants to such courses of study must have an approved qualification to work in the sector from November 2023. The registration process will begin a two-year transition period for existing practitioners to apply to register with CORU, while grandparenting will apply.

I welcome that on 30 November 2025 the title "social care worker" will become legally protected in Ireland. As part of the work to open the register and set the title in law, it has become clear that the registration route provided for existing social care workers who do not hold the necessary qualifications differs from other professions and this is problematic and unsafe. I ask the House to support a Bill that fixes this problem.

I have been contacted by social care students who are studying in Carlow and were conducting their placements when the Covid-19 crisis began. Their placements were immediately suspended, yet CORU stated that students had to complete their placement hours to be recognised as qualified social care workers. The question was then asked as to how teachers, nurses and doctors can be awarded degrees while social care students are not. The Bill will fix this type of inequality, which is important.

The Bill will also help with our staffing challenges in the medical sector. We have long had a tradition of doctors moving between Ireland and the UK to train, especially when it can often be cheaper to study abroad. Due to the departure of the UK from the EU, holders of UK medical degrees are prevented from accessing medical intern training posts in Ireland. We have to make sure that medical degrees completed wholly or mainly in the UK meet the requirements for registration as qualified interns in Ireland. Such students need to be registered in the proper way. It is vital that holders of UK medical degrees can access intern training posts in Ireland. This urgent issue needs to be addressed.

A degree must meet the criteria set by the Medical Council for recognition, and it is important that those who study in the UK meet the requirements for recognition for intern qualifications. We must also maintain a route to registration on the general division of the Medical Council register for certain cohorts of internationally trained doctors, and the Bill will also address that.

I welcome this important Bill. Previous speakers have mentioned GPs. In Carlow, we are crying out for GPs, dentists and social care workers. Previous speakers spoke about home help. We need more home help. It is important that this happens as soon as possible.

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