Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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1008. To ask the Minister for Health if she is aware of the difficulty individuals have in completing their CORU registration on time, given the length of the process and the many bureaucratic steps involved; if she agrees that this presents a barrier to bringing much needed social care workers into the system; if any consideration has been given to extending the November 2025 deadline into 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39697/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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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.

The Social Care Workers Registration Board officially opened its register on 30 November 2023, marking the beginning of a two-year transitional period during which all existing practitioners can apply for registration under Section 91 of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005. After this period (30 November 2025), the title of ‘Social Care Worker’ will be legally protected and the registration route through Section 91 will no longer apply. As these provisions are set out in legislation, it is not possible to extend the deadline into 2026 without a legislative amendment.

CORU has engaged in extensive consultation and communication since the opening of the register and has consistently encouraged all existing practitioners to start the application process for registration. As the end of the transitional period for existing social care practitioners to register with CORU draws closer, CORU are continuing to actively engage in encouraging all eligible applicants to complete the registration process. However, once a person has started the application process and paid the application fee and it is in the system, their application will be valid and considered in due course.

CORU continues to host webinars for both individual organisations and members of the profession. An Audio-Media Campaign is due to launch shortly and targets existing practitioners to ensure they register before the end of the transitional period.

CORU has a dedicated section on its website which provides complete guidance on the registration requirements and the process for registration as a social care worker which can be found at this link: An applicant can also contact CORU directly at www.coru.ie/about-us/contact-us/ if assistance is required with making an application for registration as a social care worker.

As of 14th July, 2,513 social care workers have been registered with CORU and 3,539 open applications have been submitted and are progressing through the various steps to completion. Once a complete application has been submitted to CORU, the average time to registration is 16 days from application submitted to being considered complete.