Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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156. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to introduce legislation to regulate the counselling and psychotherapy profession; his plans to legislate for a minimum education requirement, level 8, on the national framework of qualifications, for example; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18005/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Psychotherapists and counsellors are not currently regulated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005. However, the Act provides that the Minister for Health may, under section 4(2), designate a health and social care profession not already designated if he or she considers that it is in the public interest to do so and if specified criteria have been met.

My predecessor, Minister James Reilly T.D, wrote to the The Health and Social Care Professionals Council last year seeking advice on the question of specifically designating counsellors and psychotherapists under the 2005 Act.

A number of issues require clarification and there are varying views among the professional bodies representing counsellors and psychotherapists in Ireland. The main questions to be resolved include whether counselling and psychotherapy should be treated as one or two professions for the purposes of regulation, the title or titles of the profession(s) to be protected, and the minimum qualifications that would be required of applicants for registration. The readiness and compatibility of the professions for designation under the 2005 Act also need to be determined.

The Council's detailed report on the matter has been received in recent weeks and is being examined carefully in the Department with a view to deciding the next steps which, I envisage, will include a wider round of consultation involving the various professional bodies and other interested parties.