John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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2682. To ask the Minister for Health if a proportionality assessment was carried out prior to the recent publication of the Standards and Criteria for Counsellors and Psychotherapists by the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board of CORU; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47547/25]

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. 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; and

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.

These requirements set out the level of education and clinical training needed to practise safely and effectively. Ireland is now the first country in the world to establish distinct regulatory standards for entry to both professions. Setting these standards has now laid the foundations so education programmes can be designed to ensure consistency of education and training and the standards for entry into practice for both professions.

Under EU Directive 2018/958, and the transposing Irish legislation (S.I. No. 413 of 2022), a proportionality assessment is required prior to the introduction of regulation of a profession (and this includes both new and amended requirements which restrict access to a regulated profession). The setting of Standards and Criteria is one component of this broader regulatory process and does not itself constitute the regulatory provision.

Throughout its work to introduce regulation of both professions, CORU has ensured compliance with the Directive, including assessing the proportionality of the Standards and Criteria. As CORU progresses this works further, other aspects will also be proportionality tested, including registration requirements, the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics, and CPD requirements. CORU will submit the results of the proportionality tests to my Department, and subsequently, to the European Commission.

As part of this work to ensure compliance with the Directive, the 2023 public consultation explicitly sought stakeholder feedback on the proportionality of the proposed Standards and Criteria before these were finalised by the Board. CORU continues to work directly with my Department to ensure compliance with EU requirement and remains committed to transparent, fair and proportionate regulation that protects the public and supports practitioners.

I am confident that CORU’s work will bring clear benefits for public protection. The framework has been designed to strengthen standards of practice while ensuring that training pathways and workforce supply are not adversely affected.

The introduction of consistent standards for the education and training of counsellors and psychotherapists marks a significant milestone, ensuring that those seeking support can have confidence in accessing appropriately trained and qualified practitioners.

I am assured that CORU will continue to engage closely with education providers, professional bodies, and other stakeholders as the regulatory process advances, keeping public protection at the centre of this work.

I am eager to see this work progressed so that these two very important professions are regulated, in the interest of public protection.