Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and compliment him on his work for the disabled in Ireland. He has done a tremendous job and is a great champion.

I am delighted to welcome this long-awaited Bill to the House. Not only will it address the gaps in the 2005 Act regarding appointments to the State bodies established under the Act but it will also insert new provisions for applicants for registration who have not yet practised their profession. I particularly welcome the fact that the Bill will provide further conditions for registration of physiotherapists and physical therapists in the register of physical therapists in advance of regulations to protect the title of physical therapists.

In a Commencement debate in January 2016, almost two years ago, I asked the then Minister for Health and current Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, to legally define the difference between a chartered physiotherapist and a physical therapist. I stressed that in the interests of patient safety, the titles of physiotherapist and physical therapist should be protected in one register for use by the physiotherapist profession. It is extremely important. People have set themselves up in gymnasiums and various other places and regulation is becoming extremely important in this area. I know the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists, members of which are here in the public Gallery today, has been campaigning for this for many years and has been part of a full and comprehensive consultation in the Bill. I am also aware that amendments to the Bill were introduced in the Dáil on Report Stage and that the Bill was passed without opposition.

I congratulate the Minister of State, his officials, the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and bodies such as the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists and the Irish Association of Physical Therapists for their considered and practical approach to the Bill. I believe the public and users of the services of physiotherapists and-or physical therapists will be deeply assured that the registration board's code of professional conduct and ethics will ensure that those registered under the Bill act within the limits of their knowledge, experience and competence, which is an important point, and that in the case of physical therapists, this will confine their practices to musculoskeletal therapies.

I thank the Minister of State for his hard work on this and for bringing the Bill to this House. Like Senator Dolan, I hope this Bill will pass through the House quickly and be brought into law. I thank the Minister of State for coming here today and for taking the time to listen to us.