Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

When we made decisions in advance of last month's budget, we had to ascertain how best the fund could be protected. We do not intend to retain these changes on a permanent basis. My aim is that they will be in place for just one year. We have maintained the two most critical elements of this scheme. The examination can highlight basic difficulties in addition to a myriad of much more serious diseases. We have protected the basic scheme while changing the eligibility criteria. We hope those changes will last just a year. As I have said, some 150,000 names were submitted in total. I am aware that one or two individual dentists submitted hundreds of names, which is quite significant. I do not have the exact numbers to hand.

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