I welcome the fact that these proposals are before the Dáil tonight. Only a few short weeks ago, I brought similar proposals to the floor of the Dáil and to Deputy Micheál Martin and set out a lot of what is in this motion. However, it is good that we are here and that parties are getting behind this. I have raised these issues with successive Ministers for Health: James O'Reilly, Leo Varadkar, Deputy Simon Harris, Stephen Donnelly and the current Minister. We have had four governments in that time. It is a major failure on the part of a relatively wealthy state that we do not have a good public dental system. We have actually gone backwards. In the case of Laois, the figures show that matters have deteriorated. Students should be getting their first examination in third or fourth class in primary school, just as the Minister of State probably got in Graiguecullen and as I got in Laois. Prevention is key. However, they are now not getting that first examination until third, fourth or fifth year in secondary school. That is according to the HSE. There are 6,600 waiting for their first examination and 800 of these are overdue by six years, according to figures I recently got from the HSE. Some 1,500 are overdue by five years. If prevention is key, untold damage is being done. I will raise the position of children and adults with special needs. This is a really serious issue. Those who can only have dental treatment under general anaesthetic are really being neglected. I have dealt with a number of cases where people have waited years for hospital access. In one case, not 100 miles from the Minister of State's own house in Laois, a boy has been waiting six years for treatment under general anaesthetic. This child is non-verbal and has serious inflammatory disease. He is in constant pain. This is medical neglect and it is not good enough. After repeated representations, he finally received dental treatment in a hospital recently. He had extractions but the teeth that remain are in very poor condition. The family tell me there is advanced decay and infection. I am informed that he will lose those teeth but the child cannot have dentures. This is very regrettable. The school dental scheme has to be the foundation of a public dental scheme. We have to catch people when they are young. When this fails, as it is clearly failing in Laois, the whole system fails. How it is failing in other parts of the country has been outlined but the Taoiseach has agreed with me that Laois is a black spot. He also gave me a commitment to take this up with the Minister for Health. I would like to see that followed through on. The dental treatment services scheme is 95% non-existent. There is just one dentist from Carlow providing this service in a community centre in Killeshin on the Laois-Carlow border. It is impossible for 95% of medical card patients to get treatment under the DTSS, the scheme that is supposed to cater for them. No dentist will do it. No dentist will take on new patients. The PRSI-based scheme, the dental treatment benefit scheme, only provides workers and families with a cleaning and an examination. It does not cover treatment. The Irish Dental Association estimates that we need at least 500 additional public dentists immediately because, as has been outlined here, we actually have fewer public dentists now than we had five years ago. According to the Irish Dental Association, we need an extra 500 if we are to make a start in providing dental care. The fact is that, as a State, we have failed. Successive governments have failed to put a public dental system in place. Those with special needs have been failed, as have those with medical cards. Workers and families making use of the dental treatment benefit scheme have been failed. Crucially, there has been a failure to provide a proper school dental scheme. All of this shows that we are way behind and have a great deal of work to do. We are supposed to arrive at the full implementation of Sláintecare and a public health system within 18 months but, of course, we are nowhere near that. This should form part of that. I acknowledge that extra dental training places have been put in place but it is key that these students are recruited as public dentists and then retained. There is work to be done. The Government needs to prioritise this with the HSE. We are putting money into the dental system. We probably need to increase that funding. I always argue for money to go into front-line services as much as is possible and for bureaucracy and the top layers to be reduced to make sure money is not wasted before it can be used to provide services. It is time for a major shake-up of how dental services are delivered. Other countries can do it. We should do it. We clearly need action and an action plan. We need to prioritise the areas I have outlined: the public dental scheme, the schools scheme, and children and adults with special needs, particularly those who are non-verbal and need to have treatment under general anaesthetic. Other countries can do it. Other countries did it years ago. We should do it. It needs political will. It is part of Sláintecare. We should get to work on it now and waste no opportunity. As I said, I have raised this issue with five or possibly even six Ministers across four governments but we are still not there. We have ground to make up. As an Opposition TD, I would certainly support Government in this. We need to do it.

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