Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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198. To ask the Minister for Health when the Irish Charter of Physiotherapists began to charge persons who did not study in the RCSI, TCD, UL and UCD €500 to register with them; if he will consider reducing the threshold of €500 for those persons who study physiotherapy in other universities, particularly for those Irish citizens who study physiotherapy in universities in the North; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4628/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The question relates to the role of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP) as competent authority for the profession of physiotherapy under Statutory Instruments Nos. 139 and 166 of 2008, which transpose Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications into Irish law. This is a separate matter to membership of the professional body.

Directive 2005/36/EC applies to all EEA nationals who wish to practise a regulated profession in an EEA Member State other than that in which they obtained their professional qualifications. This includes Irish citizens who study in any of the EEA Member States, including the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and who seek to return to Ireland to practise their profession.

There is no specific recognition of the profession of physiotherapy at a European level; rather the Directive provides for the assessment of the qualifications/professional training/post-qualification professional experience of an applicant against the qualifications required to practise in Ireland. Because of the case-by-case nature of the process, it is time-consuming and administratively burdensome.

The Code of Conduct on National Administrative Practices falling under Directive 2005/36/EC provides for the charging of fees for the application process once, inter alia, such fees do not exceed the real cost of the service provided, or are not set at a level which would make it impossible in practice to exercise the rights provided for under the Directive. As the ISCP has been designated competent authority under S.I. 166 of 2008, it is a matter for the Society to set its own fee for qualification recognition having regard to the Code of Conduct. I am advised by the ISCP that the fee has been set at €500 since 1 August 2007.