Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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285. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his concerns relating to accountancy firms which are able to operate outside the supervision of the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority, as detailed in a recent article published by Chartered Accountants Ireland on 4 December 2013 (details supplied). [1080/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Only a minority of Member States of the European Union regulate all accountants by means of legislation. The majority of Member States regulate more specialist roles within the accountancy profession as is currently the case in Ireland and the UK.

Regulation of a profession or professional activity is subject to European regulations concerning mutual recognition. The future Professional Qualifications Directive (expected to enter into force this year) will require Member States to provide justification for the reasons for each regulated profession in the country.

There are varying perspectives on both sides of the debate regarding the regulation of the term “Accountant”. In view of this, I have asked my officials to re-examine the issues involved and a public consultation on this matter will take place over the coming months.

I am aware that other unregulated professions dealt with the same issue by actively advertising to consumers the benefits of dealing with members of professional bodies only. The professional bodies may wish to consider raising public awareness through media advertising or through the contacts, websites and professional networks of their large membership base.