Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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122. To ask the Minister for Health if he is satisfied there are adequate measures in place to assist qualified Irish speech and language therapists who have trained in the UK and wish to return here to work (details supplied); if he is further satisfied that the regulations are not overly burdensome on speech and language therapists and ultimately counterproductive to addressing shortage of therapists here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19162/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 seeks to protect the public by providing a system of statutory registration for designated health and social care professions, including that of Speech and Language Therapist.

Statutory regulation is a system underpinned by law whereby each member of a profession is recognised by a specified body as competent to practice within that profession. As a legally binding process, with a mechanism for the prosecution of offences, it ensures a robust system that serves the dual function of protecting the public while ensuring that the good reputation of a profession is not called into question by the poor practices of an individual member.

CORU is the umbrella term used to describe the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, its committees and the registration boards established under the Act to regulate each individual designated profession. Its function is to protect the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct, education, training and competence through the statutory registration of the designated health and social care professions. The recent decision to designate the professions of counsellors and psychotherapists under the Act will increase the number of regulated professions to 16 in total. CORU’s register of speech and language therapists opened on 31 October 2014.

Professionals who apply for registration must demonstrate that they are fit and proper to practise in the profession, complete National Vetting Bureau e-vetting and international police clearance, verify that they agree to abide by their profession specific Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics, pay the application fee and hold an 'approved' qualification. To apply for registration, a professional must complete an online application form and provide all of the required supporting documentation.

An “approved qualification” is one that has been awarded on satisfactory completion of an education and training programme in the State approved by the relevant registration board; or a non-Irish qualification which has been deemed equivalent to the Irish qualification standard.

Such non-Irish qualifications are assessed under the mechanisms set out in Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications which provide for the assessment of an applicant’s formal training and post-qualification professional experience to determine if they meet the standard required to practise in the home member state (i.e. Ireland). The Speech and Language Therapists Registration Board is designated as competent authority under Directive 2005/36/EC in Ireland for professional speech and language therapy qualifications.This Directive applies to all EEA nationals who wish to practise any regulated profession in an EEA Member State other than that in which they obtained their professional qualifications. This includes Irish citizens with professional qualifications obtained in any of the other EEA Member States, including the United Kingdom, who seek to return to Ireland to practise their profession.

There is no specific recognition of the profession of speech and language therapy 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 the host Member State (Ireland). The General System of the Directive, which applies in the case of speech and language therapy qualifications, provides for an assessment on a case-by-case basis of the qualifications of an applicant against those required to practise in the host member state if the professional activities covered are comparable.If the professional activities are not comparable then the qualifications cannot be recognised. If the professional activities are comparable but deficits in the qualification are identified, subsequent post-qualification professional experience of the applicant must be considered. If deficits in qualifications remain, the Directive provides for the competent authority to offer an applicant a compensation measure i.e. the choice between a period of adaptation (a placement) and an aptitude test.

I am advised by CORU that compensation measures have been applied to some applicants with non-Irish speech and language therapy qualifications which did not meet the applicable Irish standards - the Standards of Proficiency. Where compensation measures are applied and have been successfully completed, the applicant's qualification is recognised and they are eligible to apply for statutory registration.

Under the Directive, Member States must ensure that an applicant has the possibility of taking the aptitude test not later than six months after the initial decision in which it is imposed. There is no obligation however on the host Member State to provide the period of adaptation which is a period of professional practice in the host Member State under the supervision of a qualified member of that profession, possibly being accompanied by further training.

I am satisfied that these processes of registration and qualification recognition provide a strong and proportionate mechanism to protect the public by ensuring that only appropriately qualified professionals are registered and accordingly it is fit for purpose. The numbers of applications received and completed for registration in the speech and language therapists register from 2014 to 2018 are as follows: