Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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209. To ask the Minister for Health his views on the concerns outlined by an organisation (details supplied) regarding the Health and Social Care Professionals (Amendment) Bill 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31750/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Health and Social Care Professionals (Amendment) Bill 2017 has been referred to committee stage in Dáil Éireann. It is a short Bill, with only nine sections, and proposes amendments to the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 in three main areas. It will address gaps in the Act in relation to appointments to the State boards established under the Act; it will provide for new conditions or criteria to apply to applicants for registration who have not yet practised their professions; and it will introduce temporary provisions relating to registration in the register of physiotherapists in advance of regulations to protect the title of physical therapistalongside the title of physiotherapist,the protection of which is already provided for under the Act.

The Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists, the professional body for physiotherapists, is circulating proposed amendments to the Bill to TDs, senators and to its members. These amendments are generally technical in nature and relate to the provisions in the Bill relating to registration in the register of physiotherapists, on a once-off basis, of qualified users of the title of physical therapist.Officials of my Department have given careful consideration to the amendments proposed and are continuing to engage with the professional body to clarify the Bill's provisions.