Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for missing most of the Minister's speech. I was on my way to another meeting and became delayed. I welcome the opportunity to make a few points about this legislation. We could have the Minister in the House all the time. The Minister knows that every day on the Order of Business, we are always looking to have a chat with him about various things. In contrast to the normal adversarial approach I take, we very much support this Bill. The Minister knows that its origins go back to the current Leader of the Opposition, Deputy Martin, in 2000 in respect of the report entitled Statutory Registration for

Health and Social Professionals: Proposals for the Way Forward. The 2005 Act came about as a result of that report and we then saw the commitment to introduce statutory registration for health and social care professionals.

According to that report, approximately 35 grades in the health service come under the overall term of health and social care. The rationale for the introduction of such registration is that we all require confidence in our health care professionals and to know that if we are seeking therapy or medical help and assistance, we can be confident that the prescribed treatment or therapy does what it says on the tin, for want of a better expression. Various disciplines have voiced concerns over the years about people's qualifications.

The legislation, which the Minister went through piece by piece, is technical in nature. Its main implications are the inclusion of additional professions in the system of statutory regulation in the future and the granting of power to the Minister to do that. For example, the Minister may look at including counselling and psychotherapy after the original 12 areas are included. What are the Minister's intentions with regard to herbalists? There are some very well-qualified people who are offering herbal remedies and treatments and many people have considerable confidence in them. There are varying degrees of expertise among these people. Some have done basic courses while I gather that others have completed degrees and doctorates in this area and so are very well qualified and competent in prescribing various remedies and treatments. We should try to include this area as soon as possible so that we can ensure that those worthy of registration are registered and those who are not worthy of registration are not registered so that the public can have confidence in that area as well.

Will the Minister clarify why section 6 of the 2005 Act, relating to fitness to practise complaints, inquiries and the discipline that might be handed down, has not yet commenced? Why is this issue not dealt with in the Bill? Obviously, it is very important in the regulation of health care professionals and is meant to be a key function of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council. Only two of the professions are registered and up and running so far. Will the Minister indicate how quickly the entire 12 -----