Mr. Fintan Hourihan:

The situation has never been as bleak as it is currently. From the phone calls our office gets from members of the public, from contact with participating dentists and from calls we have had from politicians and local radio stations, we know that there has never been a problem of this magnitude or scale in the history of the scheme. There has also never been as quick a decline in the operation of the scheme as there has been over the past year.