I commend Sinn Féin on bringing this motion forward. It is a shocking and alarming situation. The old saying is "Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí" - praise the young and they will come. How can they come forward? The dental service is in crisis. In my constituency of Tipperary, we now face the shocking reality that Tipperary town, one of our major county towns, no longer has a dentist providing a service to public patients. This is not acceptable. The Government has repeatedly ignored warnings and pleas for changes to the dental medical card scheme. I have raised my concerns many times in the House and repeatedly with various Ministers for Health, yet we continue to see a complete failure to act. The Government has ignored the cost of dental inflation and expects private dentists to absorb the cost. That cannot happen and it simply will not happen. Anybody in business knows that, for very good reason, it cannot happen. The dentists cannot afford to do it. The HSE pays a maximum of €109.96 for up to three repairs. The laboratory fees alone for that work can range between €120 and €150. It is simple maths - it will not save your business if you do that. Before a dentist even factors in their own time, staff or overheads, they are already operating at a loss. These are substantial issues, which the HSE just will not listen to or engage with. A dentist is expected to absorb that and continue to treat public patients. It cannot happen - dentists are disappearing from the system and you cannot blame them. Dentists simply cannot continue like this. As a result, many have a made the decision to withdraw from the scheme entirely. Others are limiting their services to basic pain relief only. A small minority of dentists are still trying to provide care under the scheme but they are at their wits' end. They are carrying the burden of an underfunded system without the support they need or deserve. It is just not acceptable. When you see a problem, you should try to fix it because this is getting worse year by year. Figures have been quoted on the thousands of children waiting. Children need treatment when they go into their teens or late teens. It is a big issue for them, especially young girls. We talk about mental health but these issues, when children need assistance with their teeth, should be sorted out. I pay a full and special tribute to Dr. Daniel O'Connell, a Clonmel dentist working on the Quay. For nearly 40 years, he has served this community with professionalism and dedication. He has been sounding the alarm on this issue for years but, like so many others, his voice has not been listened to. Now, entire communities are left without public dental care. He has been warning about this but nobody was listening. I salute him and his staff, the dental technicians and receptionists. You could not find a finer practice. The situation is untenable. The Government must urgently review reimbursement rates, engage meaningfully with the professionals and take immediate action to restore confidence in the public system. I received an email this evening from a mother about her son. It would bring tears to a stone. He was referred for attention. She asked if we can do anything. The son, whose first name is Noah, was approved by the HSE for publicly funded orthodontic treatment, his orthodontic issues being assessed as severe enough to qualify. When this was originally approved the parents were told Noah would be at least 18 before he was called for the treatment. Imagine that. Having discussed this with his orthodontist, who advised that 18 would be way too late for treatment to be effective, they made a difficult decision to begin private treatment at the end of February. On 5 March, the mother received a call from the orthodontic department of the HSE in Waterford, who informed her that the boy would move forward and receive funding beginning in November 2026. She explained that he had started treatment with a private orthodontist based in County Cork, the parents would be willing to remove him from that service and remove the wire that had been put in if Noah went back onto the public system. She was told that would not be a problem but, hey presto, it would be November 2026. On that basis, the wires were removed in anticipation of his public treatment but, sadly, on 12 June, two weeks ago, the parents received a further call informing them that the national oral health office had withdrawn the offer of funding and the boy, along with about 200 other children, would no longer be entitled to the treatment and would be placed back at the end of the waiting list. What kind of incompetence and disgraceful treatment is that to give a young boy who needs that treatment, was forced to go private, started treatment, got a call that it could be done publicly and later withdrew from that, having been told he would be get treatment in the public system-----

Sentiment score: -0.06

-----and then the money was pulled again. It is a body blow. It is disgusting and someone should be held accountable.

Sentiment score: -0.18