Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate what the Minister of State said about what Ireland is doing. I welcome the fact that progress is being made in this area. I also welcome the fact that some professions are specifically moving in this direction to facilitate Ukrainian refugees. Others are not, however, and I am aware of specific individuals in Ireland who are having difficulty having their Ukrainian professional qualifications recognised here. The Minister of State is quite right to say that each professional regulatory body has to deal with that in the way that is appropriate. That is included in the recommendation from the Commission. However, it is also important for the Government to send out a clear message to all professional regulatory bodies that this is important and is something that must be pursued and advanced in a concrete way in the coming weeks and months. It is not something they can wait for many months to implement. Let us implement the recommendation from the Commission and ensure that Ukrainian nurses, doctors, lawyers and engineers who come to Ireland can make use of their professional qualifications and skills, work here and contribute here in the way we know they want to.