Pregnancy counsellors to be rated

AN accreditation system is the best way to help women with a crisis pregnancy avoid rogue counselling services, Tánaiste Mary Harney said yesterday.

The health minister emphasised she was against regulating pregnancy counselling services because it would not stop rogue pregnancy agencies from operating in Ireland.

“If we had a quality mark associated with an agency, then we would know that organisation was authoritative in this area, had expertise and could provide a valuable service. I think that might be the way to go,” said the minister, at the launch of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency’s (CPA) annual report.