Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the meeting is coming an end, do the representatives wish to sum up on any points raised that they feel they did not have time to address? The point was made that the association last met with the Minister back in November, and we will certainly follow that up from today's meeting.

Reference was made to personal protective equipment, PPE, not arriving. While it is outside the remit of today's meeting we will write to the Minister to try to pursue that.

With regard to the six front teeth treatment only and the quirks in the system, we would be very interested to follow up on those restrictions, as so eloquently outlined in the contributions. This is especially relevant if a person is in a lot of pain yet a dentist cannot follow through on that treatment. We are particularly interested in the numbers of dentists who have actually left the scheme. The last report we received from the HSE referred to 199 dentists but I am aware that figures as high as 240 are quoted in the media. The witnesses spoke of looking at a map and seeing black spots and gaps in services. There are a number of charts included in the presentations and if we have the time I would like to go through them. If one considers the decrease in spending, the CHO 6 area has the highest decrease in spending of 41%, along with areas such as Clare, Mayo and Dublin West, right across the coastline. One of the questions we asked the HSE was whether it was a rural or urban issue. Clearly, it is apparent from the charts there are gaps right across the State and the people with medical cards are the people suffering most in this regard.

The witnesses' contributions have been very helpful and will add to the committee's report. I apologise if I cut some speakers off. Unfortunately it is the nature of this meeting. We must be out of the room within two hours so there is a bit of pressure on. This is behind the idea of five minutes for introductions and then ten minutes for the larger parties and seven minutes for the smaller parties. Perhaps the witnesses could sum up or contribute something further in the couple of minutes we have left.