Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

She was not presenting a Bill. She was speaking on health topics and has certainly been very busy lately.

Fine Gael welcomes this long overdue Bill which the Tánaiste informed me has been circulating for nearly 20 years. The Bill is welcome from everyone's point of view. It is good for the consumers who will get proper treatment when they enter a particular practice. The last thing one needs is someone with a back problem visiting a so-called physiotherapist and emerging with neck and leg problems, later discovering that the practitioner was not fully qualified in the appropriate area. The Bill is also good for the professionals as regulation will protect their good name and reputation and allow them to stand over their titles. Any complaints can be followed up and rectified and in an extreme case a person's name can be erased from the register. Hopefully that will not happen too often.

The Bill will place registration of the listed professions on a statutory footing, giving them the recognition they deserve. The statutory registration gives each member of the profession recognition by a specified body as competent to practise within that profession under formal mechanisms provided for by law. Fine Gael believes that registration of health professionals is necessary in order to ease the legitimate concerns of the general public that they are visiting health professionals who are properly trained and competent to look after their ailments or injuries. The Bill also affords the professionals and the public protection from quacks or those working in specific health areas without any proper qualifications. The Bill will ensure that the good names of professions are protected.

A proper registration system gives the public and the professions protection because it allows for the investigation of allegations of misconduct or incompetence, a welcome step not currently provided for. The legislative framework of statutory regulation also allows for the appraisal and approval of education and training courses, examinations, qualifications and institutions, ensuring the proper development of education and training across the professions. It also allows greater consistency in the application of EU directives concerned with the mutual recognition of third level qualifications in EU member states.

The registration system must ensure that we deliver the best possible service to patients, clients and service users. While the proposed system of self-regulation must be welcomed, I hope that the new structures will have no adverse effect on competition in the various professions. That is a danger when going down the road of regulation. The Tánaiste said she had consulted with the Competition Authority in drawing up this Bill, but we should consider the issue. Unfortunately, we will not find out what might happen for perhaps a few years after the Bill is enacted and in operation. We must be careful that we do not over-regulate and discourage competition in the area. I assume that would not be the aim of the Bill.

I welcome the Tánaiste's reference to people working in areas in which they might not necessarily have the appropriate qualifications. I am aware of one gentleman in Carlow who is quite famous for setting bones, etc.