Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

This matter has been raised many times during the proceedings of the House. I hope the council will do some significant work in this area.

I was approached some time ago by practitioners of alternative medicine who have been calling for an alternative medicine registration system for many years. While such a register cannot be provided in the Bill, has the Department considered the establishment of a registration body outside the ambit of the council? Such a body would facilitate some form of registration on the part of this country's thousands of practitioners of alternative medicine. I do not know if the alternative medicinal practices stand up to medical scrutiny, but I am aware that significant sums of money are being spent on them. Therefore, there should be a registration process.

There are real problems in our schools because the demand for speech and language therapists, which has increased following the expansion of the speech and language therapy service in recent years, is not being met. According to a quote in an article in The Irish Times of 2 November last, "there are 500 speech and language therapists in the country but only about 400 are working." The article also referred to a new organisation which has been established to offer hope to people with autism. Many such bodies have been established in the United States over the past ten years to offer something other than a quick-fix solution to the parents of children with autism. I do not doubt that there is a need for the services of those who are qualified and those who are establishing a commercial activity, but we need to distinguish between them in the area of speech and language therapy. I hope the new council will penalise those who offer hope to people but who simply take money from their pockets.

I am not in favour of self-regulation, generally speaking, because it is important that people outside a profession should be involved in regulating it and deciding how complaints can be made against those involved in it. In this regard I welcome section 9(3)(b)(iv), which states that nine ordinary members of the council will be "representative of the interest of the general public." That is very important. The section also states that they will be "appointed with the consent of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment." As the Departments of Health and Children and Enterprise, Trade and Employment are involved, I assume that the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children will have the power to appoint various people under the seal of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, or at least to recommend that they be appointed. It is important that as wide a group as possible should be part of the council to represent "the interest of the general public."

The Third Schedule lists the Irish qualifications which are required by existing practitioners if they are to qualify to register at the outset. It is not clear that similar provisions will apply to those who qualified outside Ireland but have been validated and are entitled to work in this country. Can the Minister of State clarify this matter? Does the Third Schedule deal specifically with those who received their qualifications in Ireland? Does it cover those who are practising in Ireland, even though they received their qualifications in other jurisdictions? I ask for some clarity in that regard.

I welcome the Bill, which will lead to much more public confidence in a range of professional services in the medical and educational spheres. The House will do its utmost on Committee and Report Stages to progress the Bill.