Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes, but we have to get answers about whether the capacity exists in the private sector. We have no choice but to utilise all services that are available, be they private or public. While the cross-border health directive is imperfect, for many people it is the only solution, particularly those in my constituency who would find it a bit easier than those who come from further afield. Dr. Robins spoke about how, in some cases, preventative care is much better, but we are talking about people who have been categorised as category 4 and 5. I refer particularly to those who are category 5, which tells me that they are in need of significant intervention. The longer we leave that, the worse the circumstances we will be dealing with. The witnesses will agree that it is unacceptable. We need to have movement as quickly as possible.

I wish to raise one of those issues, where you think it is sorted, and then it is not. Basically, it is a disaster. I refer to the case of a 37-year-old woman who has a serious infection in her one of her jaws and her teeth. She was on antibiotics for many months because she was not able to get treated. She is a medical card holder, and we know the issue that arises in that regard. She needs to be operated on under anaesthetic. She has a diagnosis of autism. She went to the dental hospital. I do not think she was able to get treatment there. She was referred by representatives from our office through the cross-border health directive and she attended a number of appointments at a dentist in the North for review and assessment. This was due to be done on April 26, but was cancelled the week beforehand. It seems that the dentist just happened to leave the private practice in question and said they were not able to do it. She is back in limbo.

We are sending this issue back to the HSE and starting the conversation all over again. Unfortunately, this is hardly going to be the only case of that nature. It has taken a huge amount of time to get this lady sorted. She is in significant pain, as the witnesses can imagine. I know I am stretching beyond the what we are discussing to a degree, but there have to be ways and means of dealing with these sorts of situations. I do not think any of this is particularly great. We thought we had a solution. We thought we could do it through the cross-border health directive, and we could have done. We just ended up with someone who could do it but how left the dental practice at which it was to be done suddenly. Then the surgery could not be done, and now we are back to square one.