Mr. David O'Flynn:

It is hard to put an exact figure on it. We are getting anecdotal information about potential rogue practitioners. We try to take action where we can. The practice in Drumcondra, which was the subject of a "Prime Time" special last year, is a case in point. It is owned by someone who is not a dentist. There is a serious lack at present in terms of our inability to check who is working in practices.

I see there being two solutions to this problem. The short-term solution is the amending legislation I mentioned in my opening statement, which would allow the council at least to visit a practice and check that the clinicians are properly registered and that their certificates are displayed as appropriate. In the longer term, and this feeds into questions around service delivery throughout the country, no one knows exactly how many dental practices there are, where they are, how busy they are, how many dentists are working in them or anything like that. That information is not there.