Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

Yes. The bone-setter was on duty 24 hours per day, round the clock in the traditional way, and was always accessible. I do not know if there are any bone-setters currently practising but in the past they provided an important service to many people in rural, isolated parts of Ireland.

I am also referring to those practitioners bordering on physiotherapy. How they do their work is best know to themselves, but they provide relief for many people with back aches and all sorts of sports injuries which would not necessitate formal referral through the usual hospital route. Many of these practitioners never charge any fee and leave it to the discretion of a person making a return visit to make a financial contribution or offer a gift. Does section 90 of the Bill allow for some of those people outside the listed bodies to be included?

There is a crisis in Ireland with regard to many of the listed professional groups, particularly speech and language therapists. There is a great need for those people, especially given the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act. Many parents face great frustration in trying to access the professional care badly needed by their children. There is a very slow throughput of professional persons in this area in particular and we see its consequences. The delays experienced are one of the greatest factors preventing any improvement in school children with special needs. It is a cause of great concern that so many people are denied the appropriate help. We should do whatever can be done to accelerate the throughput in that professional area.

The same applies to psychologists. How many national school principals have, over the years, seen school years pass by before getting the psychological services recommended for pupils? Senator O'Toole will verify the facts in this area to a greater extent than me. It is vital that we see a much greater throughput of people qualifying in speech and language therapy and psychology.

We have a standardisation and acceptance of qualifications within the EU. However, in the west there are people from outside the EU, not necessarily the United States but from Australia, who come to Ireland and present their credentials and qualifications. I am not sure if those people reach the professional standards of those who have qualified in Ireland. I am not opposed to these people, but some people have been disappointed with their level of professionalism and the treatments offered. There have been instances of people who got through the net, who presented themselves as qualified medical practitioners and who were not detected until something went wrong. At that stage, they were nowhere to be found. Do adequate methods exist to scrutinise the bona fides of those who present themselves as professionals under the headings listed in the Bill?

A sizeable portion of the legislation is dedicated to monitoring the continuing suitability of education and training programmes. What is the position vis-À-vis the ongoing training of people in the professions covered by the Bill? There should be a new mandatory examination process for professionals who come from countries other than Britain or North America in order that they will meet the standards we have set for their Irish counterparts. This matter must be addressed because not all the rogue professionals operating here are Irish. It is time we standardised the entire process in this area.