Workforce Shortages, Transnational Mobility and Professional Regulation in Social Work: An Irish Case in Global Perspective

Global migration and labour market pressures have increased transnational mobility in social work, as practitioners move across borders to meet workforce demand. This paper examines how professional regulation interacts with workforce shortages and transnational mobility, using Ireland as a case study. A regulatory dilemma arises from the absence of standardised international reference points for comparing social work education, training, roles, and regulation. Where applicants’ qualifications and practice experience do not align with national standards, additional requirements may be imposed, delaying entry into practice. Focusing on applicants from the U.K., U.S., Zimbabwe, and India, identified as principal countries of origin among internationally qualified social workers in Ireland, analysis shows how differences in regulatory structure, education, and role definition shape the assessment of equivalence and extend pathways to registration. The paper determines that this dilemma cannot be resolved by regulators and must be addressed at the level of the profession. It proposes identifying shared core content within existing social work education, using patterns in recognition decisions to inform targeted curriculum development, and creating standardised country profiles describing social work roles to support more consistent interpretation of international experience.