Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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958. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on efforts as part of the Global Ireland framework to streamline the recognition of overseas and non-EU qualifications in Ireland, particularly on-the-job qualifications.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32226/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has longstanding and well-developed systems for the recognition of qualifications. These systems fall into two broad categories, professional and academic recognition, that can support persons pursuing employment opportunities, seeking to practise their professions of choice, or looking to avail of new educational opportunities.

Professional Recognition.

Where a profession is unregulated, there is no formal barrier to practicing that profession in Ireland and specific awards or licences are not required to undertake this profession in most settings.

However, where a profession is regulated, such as the profession of dentist or teacher, 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 can be found here: .

My Department serves as the national coordinator and national assistance centre for Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications. This Directive, which has been transposed into Irish law by S.I. No. 8 of 2017, provides the main legal framework to facilitate the mutual recognition of professional qualifications between EU/EEA Member States. In my Department’s coordination role, it works with the European Commission, other Member States and Irish regulatory bodies to support the operation of the Directive and to assist citizens seeking the recognition of their qualifications.

The professional recognition of Third Country qualifications is the responsibility of the relevant Competent Authority in line with their own statutory powers and remits. My Department does not have a direct role in the performance of this function. However, these authorities benefit from Ireland’s wider engagement in European and International initiatives on education and qualifications cooperation.

Academic Qualifications.

Ireland operates a distributed system for the recognition of academic qualifications whereby recognition decisions are made by relevant entities such as employers in respect of the qualifications required for employment purposes, and education and training providers for the purposes of admission to study. This activity is supported by NARIC (National Academic Recognition Information Centre) Ireland, hosted by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI).

NARIC Ireland provides advice, free of charge, on the recognition of foreign academic qualifications in Ireland. Via its online portal, it provides, where possible, comparability statements for foreign qualifications which places them in the Irish context of the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). The NARIC Ireland database currently holds comparability statements for 1,928 qualifications from over 175 countries.

NARIC Ireland was established when Ireland became a signatory to the Lisbon Recognition Convention (LRC), a qualification recognition convention under the ambit of UNESCO and the Council of Europe. This Convention has established and continues to develop international networks which facilitate qualification recognition via information exchange and cooperation.

In addition to the LRC, Ireland is an active member of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and sees the EHEA’s Bologna Process and its links with global partners as a means to foster greater international cooperation, building wider understanding of qualification and quality assurance systems, and therefore facilitating qualification recognition.