Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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885. To ask the Minister for Health if he will review the criteria laid down for registration with a body in view of the costs to persons who have studied overseas, at enormous costs to their families, and who wish to return here to work, with a view to reducing the costs involved for such students (details supplied). [19514/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The fee of €410 referred to by the Deputy is the application fee for recognition of non-Irish professional qualifications. Applications are assessed under Directive 2005/36/EC which applies to all EEA nationals wishing to practise a regulated profession in an EEA Member State other than that in which they obtained their professional qualifications. Its intention is to make it easier for certain professionals to practise their professions in European countries other than the one in which the qualification was obtained.

In the case of the health and social care professions falling under the remit of CORU, the Directive provides for an assessment on a case-by-case basis of the qualifications/professional training/post-qualification professional experience of an applicant against the qualifications required to practise in the host Member State (i.e. Ireland). Due to the case-by-case nature of the assessment and the need to examine an applicant’s individual professional experience, it is a time-consuming and administratively burdensome process.

Regulation 89 of S.I. No. 8 of 2017 which transposes the Directive into Irish law, provides for the charging of fees by a competent authority for the application process once, interalia, such fees do not exceed thereal cost of the service provided. As each Registration Board at CORU has been designated competent authority for its profession under S.I. No. 8 of 2017, it is a matter for CORU to set its own fee for qualification recognition having regard to Regulation 89. I am advised by CORU that the fee, which is in line with that charged by other competent authorities, has been set at €410 since the opening of its first register - the register for Social Workers - on 31 May 2011.

The detailed assessment process provided for under the Directive necessitates the submission of documents verifying the applicant’s identity, formal training, qualifications awarded, eligibility to practise and post-qualification professional experience. As these are important documents, CORU does not accept originals; it asks applicants to provide photocopies which have been certified by a solicitor/lawyer to be true copies of the originals. The submission of certified copies of documents is provided for in the Directive. While it is appreciated that this imposes additional costs on applicants, CORU must be confident that decisions on applications are based on appropriately certified documentation.