(b) Opening of Registers

There is a detailed and complex process of work to be completed by each Registration Board before the opening of a register.

The process of implementing regulation for the profession involves several important and interdependent milestones, each of which plays a crucial role in ensuring public protection and establishing the foundation for safe practice. Each of these steps ensures that the legal and regulatory infrastructure is in place that facilitates the opening of a register.

Opening a register requires the following key milestones to be met:

• Milestone One: Setting of Pre-Registration Education and Training Requirements (Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes)
• Milestone Two: Setting of the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics
• Milestone Three: the adoption of a list of qualifications for entry onto each of the registers
• Milestone Four: Establishment of all registration Bye-Laws

Following the achievement of each of these milestones, a Registration Board can open its register(s) and the 2-year period for grandparenting existing practitioners will commence.

Following the close of this transition period, the professional title associated with the opening of the register (i.e. Clinical Psychologist, Counselling Psychologist, Educational Psychologist, Psychologist) becomes legally protected and any individual seeking to use the title, from this moment onwards, must be registered with the Psychologists Registration Board. 

The Psychologists Registration Board has set and published its pre-registration education and training requirements (Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes) for each of the three specialisms. It has also undertaken a stakeholder consultation process on its draft Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics and its CPD Guidance and Support. 

The Board has adopted the list of qualifications for the three specialisms currently used by the Health Service Executive for employability eligibility at entry level for entry. The adoption of this list of qualifications – in line with Section 38(2D) of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (as amended) – will facilitate the more timely opening of these three registers. 

Engagement is ongoing with education providers in preparation for commencement of the Board’s programme approval process. This programme approval process will be completed during the 2-year transition period following the opening of the registers. By the close of the transition period, the Board will have set what is known as its Approved Qualifications Bye-Law which lists the qualifications it has approved for entry to its registers. When the Approved Qualifications Bye-Law is in place, the Board will cease use of the list of qualifications it adopted from the HSE.

The opening of registers for the three specialisms requires a number of technical amendments to the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (as amended).  CORU is working collaboratively with the Department of Health to progress these amendments, along with the remaining legislative and regulatory steps necessary to establish the registers for clinical, counselling and educational psychologists. 

In light of this ongoing legislative process, the opening of the first three registers is now expected in 2027. CORU and the Department of Health remain committed to progressing this work as efficiently as possible, while ensuring that the regulatory framework is robust, transparent and aligned with statutory requirements

As the process moves forward, updates will be provided on the CORU website and through our social media channels, along with continuing engagement with the professional body, the Psychological Society of Ireland, union and other  stakeholders.

Alongside its work progressing the opening of registers for clinical, counselling and educational psychologists, the Psychologists Registration Board has been working to establish the necessary regulatory infrastructure that will facilitate the establishment of the Psychologists Register, the register that will accommodate the regulation of all other psychology specialisms.  

The first element of this regulatory infrastructure is the setting of the Standards of Proficiency that will articulate the knowledge and skills required – at the threshold level – for entry into practice across all the remaining psychology specialisms. The Board’s drafting process has been layered and multi-faceted with input from national and international experts in professional regulation, education quality assurance and psychology, along with continued stakeholder engagement during late Autumn 2025 and Spring 2026.

The Psychologists Registration Board anticipates that it will be in a position to open a public stakeholder consultation process on its draft Standards of Proficiency for Psychologists and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes for Psychologists during Autumn 2026.