A decision by the Health Minister to regulate all counsellors and psychotherapists in Ireland has been welcomed.

Currently, there are no statutory regulations for the registration of these professionals. According to Fine Gael TD, Dan Neville, this means that ‘there is no State control over what qualifications are held by those practising in these areas'.

"At the moment, anyone can put up a sign stating they are a counsellor or psychotherapist and charge €80 per hour for a service which they may not be suitably qualified for. This is extremely dangerous for vulnerable people," he commented.

However, Health Minister, Dr James O'Reilly, has decided to designate by regulation the professions of counsellor and psychotherapist under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act, 2005.

"I welcome the decision of the Minister, as there has been extreme concern that unqualified persons or those with qualifications from a weekend course have been allowed to deal with people in a very sensitive situation," Mr Neville pointed out.

Minister Reilly has written to the chairman of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, Tom Jordan, informing him of his plans. The Minister is obliged to consult with this council and to give interested or relevant people and organisations the chance to make representations to him on this issue.

"The Minister has requested his officials to put the necessary arrangements in place to initiate this consultation process as soon as possible. Once the outcome of the consultation process has been assessed, he will then be in a position to make the decisions necessary to proceed with regulations designating the professions to be regulated and prescribing the titles to be protected," Mr Neville added.