Mr. Fintan Hourihan:

Yes. What the Senator said about the frustrations felt around responses to queries and emails is certainly something that dentists would report to us. We, in turn, have relayed this to the Dental Council. The council has stated that it needs to be satisfied that those who present and look for registration have clinical experience and also that they have language competencies. They have a process for reviewing these. To be fair, relative to other regulatory bodies, the Dental Council is probably more proactive and is handling more. I say this from attending international meetings. The mentoring system is designed to allow candidates such as Ukrainian dentists to familiarise themselves with working in Irish dental practices. The Dental Council has said that it wants to have experienced dentists to show them the way and to mentor them. A number of dentists have already been approved for registration, subject to a period of adaptation by the Dental Council. We believe this is an appropriate way to go. We concur that there is intense frustration at the delays in dealing with the applications. It is something we have conveyed to the Dental Council. We support the idea of a mentoring system, as outlined in our submission, for all dentists regardless of where they originate. This should be a formal mentoring or foundation training scheme. We believe this is very important as well. Yes, we get the same feedback from our members who want to take on highly motivated dentists. As an association, we arranged a meeting with them within months of their arrival. We were really impressed by the Ukrainian dentists and we offered then every assistance we can. There are delays in dealing with queries that the Dental Council should address.