I thank the Members for this very important motion and for giving me the opportunity to discuss dentistry services and to provide an update on the developments in the sector and the oral health action plan. The Government allocates over €240 million to the provision of public oral healthcare services every year across the Department of Health and the Department of Social Protection. This ongoing investment shows our commitment to delivering services, progressing reforms and addressing the challenges we know exist in dentistry services. We fully acknowledge that more needs to be done. The Minister for Health wants to do much more to improve oral healthcare services and to address access issues. The Minister welcomed the Joint Committee on Health’s recent report on dental services and understands the frustration families and individuals are experiencing with the current services. In my own clinics I see this daily. The current position on public dental services is not good enough. Too many people cannot get timely care. We have to do two things, namely, take practical steps now to improve access and deliver lasting reform in the long term. The model of services we operate is largely from the 1990s, and it must be modernised. While that reform is progressing, we are determined to ease the pressure people are facing now. In practical terms, that means improving access through the public system, especially for children and adult medical card holders. The Department and the HSE are currently finalising a two-year action plan - and this is where a lot of work has been done - that aims to deliver meaningful impact in the short term while also making progress on the structural reforms outlined in the national oral health policy. The salaried HSE oral healthcare service provides dental care to several groups of patients. In the January to April period this year, it provided care to over 56,000 adults and children. This includes over 16,000 emergency appointments to eligible patients, on a same-day or next-day basis. Those with additional needs who cannot receive care in a general dental practice may need special care services provided by the HSE. The HSE provides these patients with an oral health examination and where necessary, their treatment is provided using additional supports. This service provides care to many children and adults who would not otherwise have access to oral healthcare services. Regarding access to public oral healthcare services for children, there are access issues in respect of the current model of service provided by the HSE. This service aims to offer the first of three appointments to children while they are in second class, or seven years old. Due to capacity challenges, the HSE needed to prioritise patient groups, to ensure emergency care remains available for all eligible HSE patients. Within the three childhood appointments, the sixth-class appointment is prioritised by the HSE. This is to ensure that children receive preventative treatment on their permanent molars and, for those children who require it, a referral for an orthodontics assessment. Some €4 million in additional funding has been provided to support the HSE to complete recruitment of 15 additional whole-time equivalents across dentists and dental nurses. The public oral healthcare services provided by the State includes orthodontic treatment. I know the Deputy spoke about how many are on the waiting list. The HSE provides orthodontic treatment to those who have the greatest level of clinical need and have been assessed and referred for treatment before their 16th birthday. It is positive to note that 5,500 grade 4 patients have been removed from orthodontic waiting lists since the introduction of the waiting list action plan in 2020. This includes 392 patients so far in 2026. A further €2.85 million has been invested this year to support continued measures to reduce orthodontics waiting lists. However, despite additional capacity provided via private contractors under the waiting list action plan, waiting lists remain high due to staffing and recruitment challenges. I know Deputies are aware of this. The action plan seeks to address this and improve the current orthodontic waiting lists. I am aware there are challenges in the provision of dental services under general anaesthetic. I know this is not acceptable for those who are on these waiting lists. This is why the action plan will consider initiatives such as using the emerging availability of capacity that the new surgical hubs will enable. This will help reduce the current waiting times for general anaesthetic access for both children and adults. An important part of this work will be to improve the collection and availability of data, in particular for our special care patients, which includes those with intellectual disabilities. We want to ensure timely access to care under general anaesthetic for those who most need it. I want to turn to the dental treatment services scheme, DTSS. Last year the State provided care to over 300,000 medical card holders over the age of 16 under the scheme. In order to address contractor concerns regarding the DTSS, a range of measures came into effect in May 2022 to introduce and reintroduce elements of preventative care. The Minister for Health also increased the fees paid to dentists for most treatment items by from 40% to 60%. These measures are having an impact, with access to care continuing to increase each year since they were introduced. In 2025, over 241,000 additional treatments were provided under the DTSS, with an extra 50,000 patients treated, when compared with 2022. Activity has continued to increase further into this year. Initial data from the first half of this year indicates that more than 4,000 additional patients have been treated, compared with the same period in 2025. These are important signs of progress and improved access, however, we have much more to do and I do understand the frustration. Reform of the DTSS is one of the actions in the action plan that my Department and the Minister have committed to. We look forward to working with relevant stakeholders in progressing this reform. A key enabler of successful reform and improvement of oral health services is ensuring that we have enough appropriately-trained oral healthcare professionals. In particular, we need to maximise the contribution of our hygienists, dental nurses and other oral healthcare professionals to provide the modernised, prevention-focused care we are developing. This requires changes to our educational and legislative frameworks which is acknowledged in the oral health action plan. We also need to consider educational models which enable students to experience providing care in a community setting, within our most vulnerable communities, equipping them with the experience and confidence needed to serve the entire population following graduation. I am delighted to note that we currently have more dentists on the Dental Council of Ireland's register than ever before, with 3,962 as of June 2026. There has been a steady increase in the number of registered dentists. In 2019, there were 3,100 and therefore we have seen an increase of over 28% since the national oral health policy was published. There is also a need to increase the number of dental hygienists and other oral healthcare professionals. The Department of Health has commenced work on a draft strategic workforce plan for dentistry and oral health. This plan recognises and highlights the challenges in terms of data gaps in the dentistry sector. To address the gaps in data, the Department has designed an oral healthcare workforce census framework. The workforce census is intended to gather information, including the proportion of registered oral healthcare professionals who are practising in their registered profession, the services they provide, and the skills they have. The roll-out of the workforce census is expected to be a key action in the new dental action plan. The census data will provide information to support the development of the sector and to support workforce planning. The Government is committed to ensuring our healthcare services are supported by a steady and sustainable pipeline of highly skilled graduates and one of the programme for Government commitments is to increase the number of healthcare college places, including for dentistry. We have achieved a lot in this area through collaboration with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Higher Education Authority, HEA. This work has led to the commencement of a new bachelor of dentistry degree programme in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI, in September 2025. The RCSI model trains dental students in a community-based model of dental education. The RCSI has taken in 21 Irish and EU students in 2025 and has secured an agreement with the HEA to expand its intake of Irish and EU students to 35 places by 2027. This will significantly increase the number of dental training places available and will enhance the workforce capacity. We know that more must be done in this area which is why we have engaged with Cork University Dental School and Hospital at University College Cork, UCC, and the Dublin Dental University Hospital at Trinity College Dublin regarding the expansion of dentistry training places. These engagements are ongoing, with a view to developing potential options to facilitate further expansions. In terms of improving access to services and supporting reform, the Department of Health is progressing policy to introduce direct access for dental hygienists in Ireland. This will allow dental hygienists to provide appropriate elements. I am sorry I did not have time to finish this statement.

Sentiment score: 0.27

I do understand the challenges that are there. I see them daily. With our new action plan, going forward, we want to make those changes. We are not opposing the motion.

Sentiment score: 0.04