Mr. Fintan Hourihan:

The percentages are informative but we do not know whether there was ever enough dentistry in any particular region to start with. The Deputy's constituency is now highly urbanised in a way it was not ten or 20 years ago. Regardless of whether you are talking about a rural or urban location, dentists have left the scheme.

To answer the Deputy's question on what the priorities would be, we have a clear sense of what we would like to discuss first and foremost, namely vulnerable groups. A decision can be made to spend a large amount of money on a small number of people or a small amount on each person. We advocate that we sit down with Department officials to identify the vulnerable groups – primarily children, adults with lesser means, and special care patients – and agree on how they should be prioritised, rather than coming up with plans for a scheme for the under-sevens that is not targeted, for example. The latter may be politically attractive but does not represent the best use of resources. First and foremost, the Department has to come to us to talk. It drew up a policy without talking to the association. It made further changes and suggested more schemes without talking to us.