Mr. Fintan Hourihan:

The vast majority of dentists work in private practice so they are hired by the practice owner - the dentist in charge. The problem is availability. The number of additional dentists who join the register every year is far greater than the number who graduate from our dental schools so we are always going to have to rely on dentists coming in from outside the country. They are very welcome and we would be in an awful state if we did not have them. However, there are work permit issues. Many dentists will be approached or will source dentists to work for them but find that the work permits rules do not allow them to work here. The reason why dentistry is a bit different is because in the vast majority of cases in private practice, dentists are self-employed. As I am sure members are aware, work permits are usually worked on the basis of a paid employment position. We are saying that these rules need to be changed. It is not just dentists. Dental nurses are not included on the list of occupations or professions that can avail of work permits.

The possibility of hiring dental nurses from outside the European Union is precluded. The single biggest source of dentists will continue to be from outside the State. We are never going to produce enough dentists from within the State. I come back to the point that if the dental schools were adequately funded, they would not need to cross subsidise by bringing in students from far away, with little or no likelihood or interest of working here in Ireland. If 90 dentists graduate from Cork who were from the EU or the EEA initially, the likelihood is that at least 80 of them would seek to work here in Ireland. As things stand, however, fewer than 30 will do so. While the recent announcement by the Government on expanding the number of undergraduate places is very welcome, that will take at least five years, at the earliest, before-----