Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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2041. To ask the Minister for Health if he has received from the Minister for Health the materials required under regulation 9 of S.I. No. 413 of 2022 in respect of CORU’s July 2025 Standards and Criteria for counsellors and psychotherapists; if his Department has notified the European Commission accordingly; and, in view of the psychotherapy entry requirement being set at NFQ Level 9 and counselling at NFQ Level 8, if he will outline the alignment timeline, the higher education capacity and any funding or bridging measures for providers and students; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47534/25]

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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2679. To ask the Minister for Health if she will confirm whether a proportionality assessment under S.I. No. 413 of 2022 was carried out, whether by her Department or by CORU on delegation, prior to the adoption on 11July 2025 by the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board of the Standards of Proficiency and the Criteria for Education and Training Programmes for counsellors and for psychotherapists; if she will publish any such assessment together with the consultation report required under regulation 8; if no assessment was completed, if she will direct that the decision be revisited pending a compliant assessment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47533/25]

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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2680. To ask the Minister for Health the basis for the delineation of practice whereby counsellors are trained to work with mild to moderate presentations while psychotherapists are trained for moderate to severe and complex presentations in the Standards of Proficiency adopted in July 2025; if she will provide the workforce and access to care impact assessment underpinning this delineation; the proposed transition and grandparenting arrangements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47535/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2041, 2679 and 2680 together.

As the Deputy will be aware, CORU is Ireland’s multi-profession health and social care regulator. With extensive experience in introducing regulation to health and social care professions for the first time, CORU has already established twelve registers for a range of professions. CORU’s work ensures the protection of the public by regulating the work of over 30,000 health and social care professionals.

Counsellors and psychotherapists perform a vital role, providing therapeutic care to often vulnerable people. Regulation is being introduced to these professions to protect the public, ensuring that care provided is of a consistently high standard and always by suitably qualified individuals.

The Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board was established in 2019 and since that time has been working to progress regulation of both professions.

Following designation of the two professions to be regulated by the then Minister for Health in 2017, the Board proceeded to undertake extensive research, analysis, and public consultation to introduce regulation of each profession for the first time. This recognises the differences in scope and complexity of practice between the two professions and ensures that the threshold standards and qualification levels set for each accurately reflect the competencies required for safe and effective practice, while strengthening public protection.

CORU has now published two distinct sets of regulatory documents, recognising the differences between the professions of counselling and psychotherapy.

For each profession there is:

• Standards of Proficiency, which set out the minimum knowledge and skills required for entry to the Register.
• Criteria for Education and Training Programmes, which set the requirements for how professional training programmes are designed and managed to ensure graduates consistently meet the Standards of Proficiency.