Pat Moylan (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, is welcome to the House.

Maria Corrigan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity to raise this important matter. I thank the Minister of State for attending. This matter concerns the Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy, the ICHP. It requires to be registered as a designated professional body within the meaning of section 4 of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005. Under that Act it would require protection for the titles of hypnotherapy, hypno-psychotherapy, hypno-analyst and hypno-counsellor.

This matter raises the important subject of regulation. Great strides have been made in recent years with the introduction of the Act in 2005 to ensure professional registration of a number of social care and psychology bodies. In the areas of counselling, psychotherapy and hypnotherapy it is important to undertake whatever measure is necessary in this respect, primarily to afford protection for the public. It is important that it would not be possible for any person at will to hang up a sign and claim to be a psychotherapist. It is a title that merits protection. It is in the public interest that such protection is afforded. One of the benefits of the Act is that in addition to introducing regulation for the professional bodies, it also shines a spotlight on the need for continuous professional development and a commitment to keeping abreast with all the changes and developments in each of the areas that are protected.

The Minister of State is aware of the work the ICHP has undertaken in recent years to bring about a system of self-regulation. It has gone as far as it can by itself. It tries to collaborate with other professionals. It encourages its members to abide by the criteria for regulation within the organisation but it would like to take it one step further and formalise it by way of legislation. I would appreciate if the Minister of State could indicate whether there is to be a positive response to this.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will be taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney.

The Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 provides for the establishment of a system of statutory registration for 12 health and social care professions. This new system of statutory registration will apply to those in the 12 specified professions regardless of whether they work in the public or private sector or are self-employed. This is the first time that fitness to practice procedures will be put in place for those professionals on a statutory basis. The structure of the system of registration includes a registration board for each of the professions to be registered, the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, which has overall responsibility for the regulatory system, and a committee structure to deal with disciplinary matters.

As a first step in the implementation of the system of statutory registration, the Health and Social Care Professionals Council was established by the Minister for Health and Children in March 2007. The council recruited a chief executive officer in May of last year and is currently working to put in place the necessary structures for registration, education and fitness to practise for the 12 health and social care professions designated in the Act. The council has decided that social workers and physiotherapists are the two professions from among the designated 12 which are most suitable for early registration. It has accordingly prioritised the establishment of the social worker registration board and the physiotherapist registration board during 2009.

While the proposed system of statutory registration applies in the first instance to 12 health and social care professions, the legislation empowers the Minister for Health and Children to include, by regulation and on the basis of specific criteria, additional health and social care professions in the regulatory system as appropriate. Section 4 of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act provides for the inclusion of additional professions in the system of statutory registration and constitutes a framework for guiding future decisions in this regard. The factors used to consider the inclusion of professions in the system of statutory registration include the extent to which the profession has established itself, including whether there is at least one professional body representing a significant proportion of the profession's practitioners, the existence of defined routes of entry into the profession and of independently assessed qualifications and the commitment to continuing professional development. The future consideration of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy for registration as designated professions under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 will be examined in this context.

The immediate priority of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council is to put in place the regulatory structures for the 12 designated professions. It is not envisaged that additional structures will be considered for inclusion within the scope of the system until registration boards for these professions are established. Until the council has put in place the structures required to establish the 12 initial registration boards, the Minister for Health and Children strongly encourages all relevant professional bodies within hypnotherapy and psychotherapy to continue to collaborate in order to strengthen self-regulation.

Maria Corrigan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply and welcome the positive comments he has made regarding the consideration of the ICHP in the context of those criteria. I appreciate there is much work involved in trying to establish bodies for the initial 12 professions, but we must consider the public interest and the issue of public safety. The criteria outlined by the Minister are laudable, but I have one further suggestion which the Minister of State might pass on to his colleague. Where any professional body is considered in the context of these criteria and is found either not to meet the criteria or not to be in compliance with them and therefore to be ineligible for registration, the Department should make this known to the public. Members of the public would thereby be encouraged not to access the services of such an organisation. There is a real issue of public safety with regard to some of the therapies and interventions offered by people who are not registered and are not in continuous professional development.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will convey the Senator's suggestion to the Minister.