Nowadays, the majority of the Irish population is very positive about the counselling profession and more and more people dare to start therapy (see O’Morain/McAuliffe/Conroy/Johnson/Michel 2012). But there are also a few problems. For example, in most cases, health insurance does not cover payments for counselling sessions, which makes access to counselling much more difficult and problematic for people with low incomes. This aspect also poses a difficulty for counsellors, as they cannot afford to work full-time in private practice and therefore often only pursue their counselling activities on a part-time basis. A change in the consulting cost situation in the near future is rather unlikely. There is no evidence that the government agenda includes direct provision of counselling services to those who cannot afford private counselors* (see O’Morain/McAuliffe/Conroy/Johnson/Michel 2012). In order for the profession to be legally regulated, a number of issues also need to be clarified, such as the number of professions to be regulated, as there is disagreement among professional associations as to whether it should be one or two professions. Furthermore, it needs to be clarified which title exactly should be protected and what the qualification requirements are for existing practitioners and for future counselors (cf. Government of Ireland 2019).
However, there is now an indication that an official accreditation body for counselors will indeed be established in the near future (cf. Flynn 2019). A registration committee, which has been appointed by the Minister of Health and which consists of 13 members, is already working on this (cf. ibid.). The main task of this registration committee is to protect the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct, education, training and competence of counselors and psychotherapists, as well as advising the minister on the professional titles to be protected. In any case, this is another important step towards legal regulation in relation to counselling and psychotherapy (see Flynn 2019).
In summary, then, the counselling profession in Ireland is undergoing relatively rapid development, despite licensing restrictions and cost barriers.