Mr. Fintan Hourihan:

It was remarkable that the number of dentists participating in the scheme stayed quite consistent in the difficult years after 2009, but there has been a sharp decline in the past five years and in the past three years in particular. The rate of decrease in the number of dentists has never been greater. Last week, the committee was told that a further audit had been carried out by the HSE on the contracts. Our belief is the figures are worse than the official statistics indicate-----