Dr. Dympna Kavanagh:

I wish to clarify a point about the Irish Dental Association. We held a stakeholder day, which was attended by 16 of the 22 representative organisations that were invited. The association sent three or four representatives, who led the round-table discussions. In addition, I outlined the briefing we gave them and I understand they have spoken about it as being a meaningful consultation. I hope I have outlined how much attention we paid to the consultation and how much we took on board in respect of policy.

We also carried out a year-long structured engagement for dentists and salaried services. There were intensive structured interviews and the engagement was analysed by the University of Sheffield. Many of those who participated were Irish Dental Association members.