Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

In Dublin. We all acknowledge that physical therapists have their own scope of practice and no Member wants to do them any damage. However, in the interest of members of the public, we as legislators must take a stand and point out that in every other jurisdiction except the Twenty-six Counties, a physiotherapist is also known as a physical therapist. We cannot let members of the public believe they are one and the same. We should take a stand on this and something must be done now to protect that title.

Since I was elected to this House two and a half years ago, I have received letters from physiotherapists requesting the protection of the title "physical therapist" in regard to their profession. In that respect, I must say shame on me in that all I did about this was make inquiries, obtain information and send it out to them but nobody was doing anything to address the issue. This probably happened for two and a half years before I was elected to this House. Now we are pushing the issue further aside again.