An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2025-11-12
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

The situation is unacceptable. I agree with the Deputy's approach in respect of the professional bodies and CORU. People who are trained in the UK or across Europe should be accelerated. The Minister has had an engagement with CORU in respect of therapies and the professional bodies. The professional bodies also need to look in a realistic way at the thresholds, so it should not need a PhD-based qualification to deal with the primary care scenario. Master's degree levels should be sufficient in my view. This is something on which the Minister is going to engage with the professional bodies, including the Psychological Society of Ireland and others. Historically, there has tended to be a protectionist strain within professional bodies more generally, and that is something that we need to address. I hope I am wrong on that but that is my perception. Some of the inexplicable delays for people who are well qualified and have operated in similar environments are not acceptable, given the scale of the waiting lists that we have.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-11-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-11-12