Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate everything the Deputy has said. The only thing I will say again in the HSE's defence is that it is actively trying. It is not as if we do not acknowledge there are waiting times we are not happy with. That is why there are specific objectives in the Programme for a Partnership Government to address those. The national dental care policy is being devised. We have been waiting for a while but it is definitely coming this year. If the recruitment programme was successful we might be having a different conversation with regard to the waiting times in the four counties I have described today. Every objective is being looked at to make sure we improve it in a timely manner. It is not only politicians who are frustrated. The mammies of the young girls and young fellows who have an over-bite that needs to be corrected are also frustrated. I am not even talking about the level of surgery the Deputy talked about the 22 year old young man needing. They are formative years. They are the years in which they get goofy and get slagged in school. Our main objective, apart from giving the best health care we can, is to do it in a timely manner. Those objectives are being looked at to try to achieve the programme for Government initiatives this year.

See this speech in context