68. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health if there is a mandatory requirement for dental practices to accept patients with medical cards for treatment; and if not, the measures that are in place to ensure access to dental care for medical card holders. [10370/25]

Sentiment score: 0.28

I ask the Minister to clarify if there is a mandatory requirement for dental practices to accept patients with medical cards for treatment. What measures are in place to ensure access to dental care for medical card holders? What are the current procedures for emergency dental treatment for children under the age of 16 when dental clinics, such as the dental clinic in Cork city, are closed at weekends? What plans does she have to improve accessibility to urgent dental care for patients under the age of 16?

Sentiment score: 0.39

I appreciate the Minister's response and I understand the response but the DTSS programme just is not working. For instance, the working-class town of Mallow that I come from, which has 13,450 adults living there, has no medical card provided dentist practice. Nobody is accepting a medical card in Mallow. You must travel to Cork city or to Charleville, to Limerick or down to Kerry. Many practices have given up because the system is not working. Would the Minister agree that what we need to be doing now as a Government, or what the Minister needs to be doing as part of the Government - I am not in the Government yet-----

Sentiment score: 0.11

Some day. Could we not start looking at a programme where medical cards are accepted in the same way as when a person goes to the GP and the dentist would be paid in the same way GPs are paid, so everyone is covered and there would be buy-in from everybody? The other reality is that there are situations in Cork city where if a young child falls off their bike and breaks their teeth, they have no access to the dental clinic on the weekend and therefore it is either accident and emergency or the mercy of a dentist who might accept a medical card. The reality is that a lot of them do not so children are without teeth or parents are faced with bills of €4,000 or €5,000 to replace them.

Sentiment score: -0.04

I thank the Minister but, as I pointed out, emergency care is available but is not available all the time. What does a parent do when their child is suffering? Parents have to find the money somewhere and they will beg, borrow and steal to protect or save their children. In my constituency of Cork North-Central many people have come to me and said they had to borrow money from friends or family because they had no access to dental care for a child over the weekend due to an accident. That is €2,000 or €3,000. It is simply not good enough.

Sentiment score: 0.03