210. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the action that will be taken to increase the percentage of places available on the dental training course in UCC given that less than half are currently occupied by Irish students given the need for more dentists to reduce public waiting list in the south-west region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [67263/25]

Sentiment score: 0.20

I have raised this matter on a few occasions previously. Will the Minister outline what action is being taken to increase the percentage of places available on the dental training course in UCC, given that less than half the places on the current programme are occupied by Irish students, and that we need to increase the number of qualified dentists in this country?

Sentiment score: 0.32

I appreciate the work that is being done. I was in the dental college in the past two weeks, and it was acknowledged that money is being provided to purchase equipment and upgrade the facilities. That is much appreciated by the dental college. The make-up in Cork is 25 Irish students and 31 non-European students. Part of the reason for that is that the college needs to get the funding in to support the system. I also visited the Blackpool facility where it is proposed to put in ten dental chairs. The cost of that is approximately €4.6 million. The submission for that was made in 2022. Between the Minister's Department and the Department of Health, can that programme be put in place so we can grow the number of training places for Irish and European students? It needs to be made a priority.

Sentiment score: 0.14

We have a problem, not in the Minister's Department but in the Department of Health. We previously had over 1,250 dentists working privately and providing care for people who had medical cards. The number of dentists in that area is down to 600. Likewise, the number of dentists employed directly by the HSE has dropped from over 300 in 2014 to 250. That is in the context of a huge growth in population. We have huge challenges in the dental area. The other issue relates to schools. In the programme where dentists visit schools and provide advice to students, the number of students being seen has dropped dramatically. I had parents contact me in the past week whose children first saw a dentist in secondary school. We need to increase the numbers so we can deal with the growing demand.

Sentiment score: 0.19

This is an extremely important programme, and I welcome it. To take a slightly different angle, I am disappointed by the lack of joined-up thinking in our universities about offering joint courses at universities in Northern Ireland and in the South. For instance, I remember when I was Lord Mayor of Cork I travelled to Shanghai to set up a link between UCC and two universities in Shanghai, but we do not seem to have that connection with the third level institutions in Northern Ireland. The Department of higher education should try to expand that. A student could do three years in UCD and one year in a university in Northern Ireland or three years in UCC and one year in Northern Ireland. I do not think we have done enough in that whole area and it is very important we develop it.

Sentiment score: 0.09