Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That is not what we are saying. What we are saying is that those who will be deemed fit to have an independent practice will have mandatory registration but I do think it is important. This area is as subject to change as anything else. The issue of the proportionality of regulation is being examined in the UK and Europe. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care in the UK recently published a paper rethinking regulation which emphasises the need to apply "right touch" regulation to the regulation of health and care services in the UK. It cautions about the need to be aware of what regulation can and cannot do to contain risk and that statutory registration is not always the most effective approach. We should be conscious of that happening.

The reason for the delay is that there was a wide consultation process. Oral health is not just about dentists, as the Deputy rightly points out, and there were other players in the field who needed to be consulted. That happened over a long period.

See this speech in context