Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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1947. To ask the Minister for Health for an update from the expert group established by CORU for the regulation of psychology; what recommendations it has made; when individuals within these professions will be able to register through CORU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39263/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, CORU is Ireland’s multi-profession health and social care regulator. CORU’s role is to protect the public by regulating the health and social care professions designated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (as amended), including setting the standards that health and social care professionals must meet to be eligible for registration and maintaining registers of persons who meet those standards.

Seventeen health and social care professions are designated for regulation by CORU. There are currently registers open for eleven professions and CORU is continuing the substantial work required to open the registers for the remaining designated professions of Social Care Workers; Psychologists; Counsellors and Psychotherapists; Clinical Biochemists; and Orthoptists.

The Psychologists Registration Board (PSRB) was established in 2017. The work of the PSRB includes consideration of the titles to be protected, the minimum qualifications to be required of existing practitioners, the qualifications that will be required for future graduates, and drafting the Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes.

Regulating a new profession is a complex and lengthy process, requiring careful consideration and preparatory work to ensure that it is effective in protecting the public. Psychology has been a uniquely challenging profession to regulate due to the diversity of its specialisms (for example clinical psychology, counselling psychology, occupational and work psychology, sports and performance psychology) and the fact that there is no common education pathway or standards for entry to the profession.

In 2020 a public consultation on the draft Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes developed for the profession revealed significant issues and a lack of consensus on how to proceed with regulation. Key areas of disagreement among the profession are around the minimum level of qualification required for entry to the profession, the number of placement hours, and the appropriateness of practice placement settings.

Having reached an impasse, CORU wrote to me on behalf of the PSRB in September 2021 seeking guidance on how to proceed. Having considered the matter with due regard to the complexity of this profession, its diverse specialisms (including non-health and social care specialisms), the lack of consensus among the profession on how to proceed, and risks to the public of delays in opening a register, I wrote to CORU in August 2022 requesting that the PSRB consider a dual-stream and phased approach to regulating the profession. This approach will allow the PSRB to prioritise regulating the psychology specialisms which present the greatest risk to public safety, while simultaneously continuing to work towards the long-term objective of protecting the title of ‘psychologist’.

CORU wrote to wrote to me on 3 March 2023 with the PSRB’s recommendations on which specialisms should be prioritised for regulation, using an evidence and risk-based methodology. I have accepted the PSRB’s recommendations to prioritise regulation of clinical, counselling, and educational psychology. On 24 April 2023 I wrote to CORU requesting the PSRB to proceed to immediately regulate these three specialisms, while progressing work to protect the title of psychologist in parallel.

The PSRB has now commenced its work to establish the education and training standards for entry to each of these three specialist divisions, and to identify technical legislative amendments required to enable the opening of these divisions of the register. In parallel,

An Expert Advisory Group is being convened by CORU to examine and make recommendations on a regulatory model that will facilitate protection of the title of psychologist. This will include international regulatory and professional experts. The Expert Advisory Group is working towards making recommendations to the Psychologists Registration Board and Council towards the later part of 2023.

Owing to the significant body of preparatory work that the PSRB are required to undertake, it is not possible to say with any degree of accuracy when the profession of psychologist will be fully regulated. I would anticipate that these registration boards will require a number of years to complete their work.

CORU, the PSRB, and my Department are fully committed to delivering regulation of this very important profession through protection of the title of ‘psychologist’.

Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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1948. To ask the Minister for Health for an update from the expert group established by CORU for the regulation of counselling and psychotherapy; what recommendations it has made; when individuals within these professions will be able to register through CORU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39264/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy may be aware, the Health and Social Care Professionals Council and Registration Boards, collectively known as CORU, are responsible for protecting the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct, education, training, and competence amongst the professions designated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act (2005). The Act is being implemented on a phased basis as registration boards and their registers are being established.

Regulations under SI No. 170 of 2018 were made by my predecessor in 2018 to designate the professions of counsellor and psychotherapist under the 2005 Act and to establish one registration board for both professions. Members were appointed to the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board in February 2019 and they held their inaugural meeting in May 2019.

The work of the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board (CPRB) includes consideration of the titles to be protected and the minimum qualifications to be required of existing practitioners and the qualifications that will be required for future graduates. The work of the CPRB is significantly more challenging than it is for registration boards for some of the more established professions owing to the different and complex pathways into these professions, the variety of titles used, and the variety and number of courses and course providers.

To date, the following progress has been made by the CPRB:

• Identification, verification and comprehensive assessment of legacy/historical qualifications to determine if they are appropriate for transitioning existing practitioners onto the respective registers (when open);
• Scoping and research on the regulation of counsellors and psychotherapists internationally has been conducted;
• Drafting of separate and distinct Standards of Proficiency for counsellors and psychotherapists and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes has been finalised.

Owing to the significant body of preparatory work that the CPRB are required to undertake, it is not possible to say with any degree of accuracy when the professions of counsellor and psychotherapist will be fully regulated. I would anticipate that the registration board will require a number of years to complete its work.

I hope that this information is of assistance to you.