Mr. Fintan Hourihan:

I will call on Dr. Croke to join me in answering this question but just by way of general commentary, and I am not talking about the specifics, there is no reason something of that type could not happen again in a different part of the country tomorrow.

It is critical to get in to prevent a problem so, if, for some reason, a dentist is having difficulty continuing in practice, there is an opportunity to intervene at an early stage and sit down to try to work out a solution, rather than wait for the inevitable. That requires a change in the legislation. The Dental Council will say, correctly, it is not entitled to proactively contact a dentist or visit a dental practice because the legislation does not allow for that and that, ultimately, dental practices are private enterprises. As an association, we believe there should be changes to the legislation to allow that, in the interests of the dentists, who may be in difficult circumstances, and of their patients, who will suffer as a consequence. We support the Dental Council in calling for legislation which will allow it to intervene proactively in such a scenario. Dr. Croke, who has experience as a former member of the council and is our president, will probably elaborate further.