Irish Acupuncture Update

Irish acupuncture seems to be doing well from what I can see. I recently made my first journey back to the Republic of Ireland since the onset of the pandemic. Visiting family and friends and enjoying the delights of County Waterford, it was pleasing to see how many acupuncture clinics were up and running in the locality. Arriving by train in Waterford city and walking along the quayside, I soon spotted an acupuncture clinic that has been there for several years. There are at least four other clinics in the city, which is not bad for a small city of 47,000 people.

Twelve kilometres away, in coastal Tramore, there is another clinic where a friend of mine has recently received treatment. Further along the Atlantic coast in the town of Dungarvan, there are two acupuncture clinics. A cousin took my advice to go for acupuncture treatment at one of these to help with a condition, and she has become a big fan.

So that’s quite a few clinics in the eastern half of the county alone. I know of at least one other clinic in Lismore in the western half of the county closer to the county Cork border. I also spent some time in Dublin on my trip and know that the great city is well-supplied with acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine practitioners.

So from what I could see, Irish acupuncture seems to be doing quite well.

While I know some Irish colleagues who crossed over the Irish Sea to study acupuncture, the Republic of Ireland does itself have a long-established and prestigious college called the Irish College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (or ICTCM, for short). Based in Dublin it was set up in 1983 and teaches TCM-based acupuncture theory and practice. It is located just to the north-east of the city centre close to Drumcondra and Croke Park.

The Acupuncture Council of Ireland is the main regulatory body for acupuncturists in the Republic of Ireland, comparable to the British Acupuncture Council. It is based in County Limerick. Founded in 2006, it has over 500 members and, like the BAcC, has a mandatory code of standards and ethics for all members and provides the public with assurance of the level of training of its accredited members.

North of the border, Irish acupuncture is also doing well. The British Acupuncture Council has many registered acupuncturists in busy urban locations such as Belfast and Derry and also in some more rural locations.

Click for more information about the Acupuncture Council of Ireland.