Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will raise one other issue, which relates to dental services. We are now in a disastrous situation in relation to those services. In 2012, 393,000 medical card patients received dental treatment. In 2023, it was down to 283,000. That is a drop of 110,000. The number of dentists providing both private and public care has dropped from over 1,450 to 810. What action will the Department take? Dental care is an important part of healthcare. We seem to be sidelining it.