Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

550. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding any initiatives targeted at assisting Ukrainian refugees to convert their employment qualification certificates or academic degrees to be recognised in an Irish context, and other measures that would assist in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15037/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Irish Government is committed to providing every support possible to Ukrainian people seeking the recognition of their qualifications in Ireland. The academic and professional recognition of qualifications can enable Ukrainians based in Ireland to pursue employment opportunities, to practice their professions of choice or to avail of new educational opportunities. The recognition of qualifications falls into two broad categories depending on how the individual plans to use their qualification.

Professional Qualification Recognition

Where a profession is unregulated, there is no formal barrier to continuing to practice that profession in Ireland. However, where a profession is regulated, such as the profession of dentist, nurse or doctor, an individual wishing to continue to practice their profession in Ireland must engage with the relevant Irish Competent Authority or professional regulator in order to seek the recognition of their qualifications. In these cases, the Competent Authority assesses foreign qualifications against the established Irish regulatory standard to ensure the holder has the specialised skills and competencies that are required to practice that profession in Ireland.

A list of regulated professions in Ireland, their corresponding competent authority and the relevant contact information for each authority is available on the Gov.ie website: www.assets.gov.ie/224329/d51af586-f4dc-449f-a6a7-e4406c4dddeb.pdf. Many of these authorities have already reached out to engage with the Ukrainian community and have published dedicated material on their websites to assist Ukrainians who are now seeking to practice in Ireland.

My Department has been providing ongoing critical support to the work of these authorities by sharing best practice material supplied by the European Commission on the recognition of Ukrainian professional qualifications. In June 2022 I wrote to all Ministers with responsibility for regulated professions to ensure that every effort is being made to facilitate the recognition of Ukrainian qualifications.

My Department has also provided material on qualification recognition to the Department of Social Protection, a number of NGOs and the Ukrainian Embassy to ensure this information is readily available support displaced Ukrainians.

Academic Recognition of Qualifications

NARIC (National Academic Recognition Information Centre) Ireland, hosted by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), provides advice, free of charge, on the recognition of foreign academic qualifications in Ireland and their comparable level on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). An individual can download a comparability statement from the following link which compares the academic qualification to a level on the NFQ: www.qsearch.qqi.ie/WebPart/Search?searchtype=recognitions.

The QQI NARIC database currently lists 21 Ukrainian qualifications including general professional, further education and higher education qualifications comparable to awards at level 3-10 on the NFQ. NARIC Ireland is working with the NARIC network across Europe to continue building the list of Ukrainian qualifications. Where NARIC receives a request for the recognition of a previously unlisted qualification, once it is assessed, it is added to the list of published qualifications. The NARIC Guide has been translated into Ukrainian. The Guide is also available in Polish, English and Russian. The NARIC service also helps to inform employers to determine if an applicant holds the academic qualifications necessary for a particular job or employment opportunity.