Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their detailed statements. They make for some stark reading and I imagine that many members of the public listening to the submissions will be worried about what was said regarding the new national oral health strategy and the issues with training, recognition, continuous professional development, etc. The two opening statements were stark, even within the parameters of what this committee hears on a weekly basis. It is incumbent upon us to take them seriously and I thank the witnesses for the work they put into them.

I will start with the oral health strategy. I was exasperated but not surprised to hear that yet another healthcare strategy was being developed, rolled out, printed, launched and tweeted without anybody talking to the medics themselves about what might be a good idea. The witnesses did not pull their punches on this and I do not blame them. It is professionally disrespectful but, much more serious than that, one cannot get a decent healthcare strategy without talking to the medics in the field, in this case oral health. What has been the level of exclusion in respect of consulting dentists from the oral health strategy? It seems quite extraordinary. Do the witnesses have a sense of why they were excluded from inputting into a strategy that their members will have to implement? Did they ask if they could input into it? They said they were still looking for a meeting with the Minister and his officials. How long have they been looking for that meeting?