Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 280: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her views on the submission on the statutory registration of counsellors and psychotherapists in Ireland completed by Psychological Therapies Forum. [32100/08]

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 341: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding the setting up of the Health and Social Care Professions Council and of registration boards for certain designated health and social care professions; and the designated professions under section 4 of the Health and Social Care Professional Act 2005 for which established boards have been set up in view of the fact that this Act was signed into law on 30 November 2005. [32689/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 280 and 341 together.

As the Deputy may be aware, the Health and Social Care Professionals Act was passed by the Oireachtas in 2005. This Act provides for the establishment of a system of statutory registration for 12 health and social care professionals as follows:

Clinical Biochemists;

Dieticians;

Medical Scientists;

Occupational Therapists;

Orthoptists;

Physiotherapists;

Podiatrists;

Psychologists;

Radiographers;

Social Care Workers;

Social Workers, and;

Speech and Language Therapists.

The system of statutory registration will apply to the twelve professions regardless of whether they work in the public or private sector or are self-employed and is the first time that fitness to practice procedures will be put in place for these professionals on a statutory basis. The structure of the system of statutory registration will comprise a registration board for each of the professions to be registered, a Health and Social Care Professionals Council with overall responsibility for the regulatory system and a committee structure to deal with disciplinary matters.

The first step in the implementation of the system was the establishment of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, which was launched in March last year. The Council has now recruited a Chief Executive Officer in May of this year and is currently putting in place a suitable organisational structure. The Council must establish a registration board for each of the twelve professions currently covered by the Act and will examine which professions, of the designated twelve, are most suitable for early registration. The Council has yet to advise the Department of the initial two professions selected for registration but it is hoped that the first two registration boards will be established by Spring 2009.

While the proposed system of statutory registration applies, in the first instance to twelve health and social care professions, the legislation provides for the inclusion of, on the basis of specific criteria, additional health and social care professions in the regulatory system over time, as appropriate. The Health and Social Care Professionals Council's priority is to put in place the regulatory structures for the 12 designated professions. Within this context, I welcome the recent submission by the Psychological Therapies Forum as a useful aid to assist in future discussions and decision-making regarding the inclusion of further health and social care professions, as appropriate, within Statutory Registration.