Update on Regulation for Clinical, Counselling and Educational Psychologists
June 2025
Update on Timelines for the introduction of regulation of clinical, counselling and educational psychologists
The Psychologists Registration Board is progressing towards the introduction of statutory regulation for the psychology profession.
With support of the Department of Health, the Board has developed a regulatory model that will facilitate the protection of the title ‘psychologist’ in Ireland. This model will establish a single register comprised of four divisions: one division each for clinical, counselling and educational psychologists and a fourth division for all other psychology specialism. More detail on this regulatory model can be found below.
Regulation will be introduced in two phases. The first phase will open three divisions for clinical, counselling and educational psychologists, with the second phase establishing the fourth division.
CORU had planned to open the first three divisions of the register - clinical, counselling, and educational psychology - in October this year. However, this timeline depended on advancing several factors, including legislative changes that are currently being progressed by the Department of Health.
Significant progress has already been made in preparing for the opening of the three divisions of the register - clinical, counselling, and educational psychology. This includes the development of Standards of Proficiency for entry to the registers, which are expected to be published in September. The Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics is at an advanced stage, having undergone a public consultation process, and the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements have also been developed following a consultation that concluded in March.
The remaining regulatory requirements to enable opening of the divisions will be implemented once the legislative changes are made, progressing with consultations and the establishment of the Registration Bye-Laws through statutory instruments.
The legislative process remains ongoing and the opening of the first three divisions of the register is now expected in early 2026.
CORU will continue to keep all stakeholders updated on the progress of the Psychologists Registration Board through our website, newsletter, social media channels and direct engagement with the professional body, relevant unions and employer organisations and other key stakeholders.
Update December 2024
As part of the Psychologists Registration Board’s progress towards introducing statutory regulation for the psychology profession, it has developed a bespoke regulatory model that will facilitate the protection of the title ‘psychologist’ in Ireland. This model will establish a single register comprised of four divisions: three divisions for Clinical, Counselling and Educational Psychologists and a fourth division – the ‘Psychologists Division’ – for all other psychology specialisms. More detail on the regulatory model can be found here.
The Psychologists Registration Board is progressing opening of the three divisions of its register for Clinical, Counselling and Educational Psychologists. As part of this work, the Board must establish its pre-registration education and training requirements that will set the threshold knowledge, skills and professional behaviours for entry to each of the three divisions of the register (the Standards of Proficiency) and the quality assurance requirements for education and training programmes seeking approval from the Registration Board (the Criteria for Education and Training Programmes).
The Board prepared three distinct sets of draft Standards and Criteria and launched a public consultation on 7 October 2024, inviting feedback from a range of stakeholders including members of the profession, education providers, employers, professional bodies and members of the public. The consultation closed on 29 November 2024.
The Board received a significant amount of detailed and comprehensive feedback from a wide range of stakeholders during the consultation process. CORU thanks all those who took the time to submit feedback through the online questionnaire or via email.
The Board will now take the time to review and analyse the individual submissions received during the consultation, following which it will revise and publish its draft Standards and Criteria for the three specialisms.
Following this process, the Board will communicate the next steps in the process towards the introduction of statutory regulation for Clinical, Counselling and Educational Psychologists.