I am not the first to say it, but more than 11,000 children are on HSE dental and orthodontist waiting lists. Over 8,000 have been waiting more than a year. Half of all primary school children now finish school without ever receiving even a screening appointment. In some areas, the waiting time is four and a half years. This is not acceptable. In CHO 7, which covers Lucan, Palmerstown, Clondalkin, Saggart, Rathcoole, Citywest, Newcastle, Brittas and Adamstown, it is one of the bottlenecks. The Irish Dental Association told the Committee on Health that dental services are in severe shortage, with multi-year delays for school screenings, and there are chronic vacancies that it was the HSE's job to fill, but it did not do so. The dental treatment service scheme has collapsed in many places, including my constituency. Participation fell from 1,600 dentists to 600. Different parliamentary question replies have confirmed that some areas have had periods in which no dentists were available. At the same time, we have rapidly growing areas in my constituency, including Adamstown strategic development zone, SDZ, and Clonburris SDZ. It is one of Ireland's fastest growing urban areas, with tens of thousands of new homes and new residents. There has been no corresponding increase in public dental staff, if only to keep up with the low levels we already had. Again, I am repeating points that others who spoke before me made. Of the children needing dental surgery under general anaesthetic, 3,500 are waiting nationally, of whom 40% have been waiting more than a year. As others noted, there are solutions. It is about training more people who are going work here. If we have to recruit internationally, we have to do it properly and effectively. HSE campaigns, for whatever reason, whether it is pay, the number of adverts or the targeting of people, have been largely unsuccessful, with many posts remaining unfilled and some regions receiving no applicants. This does not only apply to dental services, but it is relevant to this debate. There are persistent vacancies year on year, but we have not run a serious recruitment strategy. We need more tied scholarships that would assist people doing these courses, while getting them to work in the public sector for a period of time. We need more large-scale recruitment campaigns to beat the Australians at their own game and expanded training places. Again, we need to tie this to people who will work in this country. That is what we should be doing because we are in a crisis.

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