Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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320. To ask the Minister for Health the steps she is taking to ensure social work qualifications from universities in EU member states are recognised by CORU; and if she is concerned that uncertainty is impacting on recruitment of qualified entrants to the profession. [32423/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, CORU is Ireland’s multi-profession regulator for health and social care. Its primary role is to protect the public by regulating professions designated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (as amended). This includes setting the standards required for registration and maintaining professional registers for those who meet these standards.

The Deputy should note that there is no common standard for the Social Work profession in the EU/EEA. Common minimum standards apply for a number of professions including Doctors, Nurses, Midwives and more but not for Social Workers. Social Workers are therefore assessed under a General System for recognition set out in Directive 2005/36/EC.

CORU has developed a fast-track pathway for U.K. (including Northern Ireland) qualified Social Workers known as the Commonly Aligned Standards (CAS) pathway, whereby qualifications from U.K. universities have been recognised as aligned with Irish Standards. Therefore, there is no requirement for qualifications to be individually assessed, and Social Workers with a U.K qualification can progress straight to registration.

CORUs next steps for CAS is to expand to other countries where there is good alignment with the Irish standards. To date there has not been standard alignment with individual EU member states. However, the number of applications from EU member states is relatively few, compared to the number received from the U.K. and Northern Ireland.

As EU Social Workers do not have an established regulatory minimum global standard, applicants must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. CORU has received eight applications from EU Social Workers in 2025. Of these, four have been recognised. The other four are still in the application process as further information is required to proceed to assessment.