Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That answer is the stock answer that we get on what is happening overall. There is no substance or detail to it. The purpose of me bringing this into the Chamber today after 12 months of constant communication with the Minister and his officials in the Department is to try to see what we need to do to get this back on track. It is not true to say that the dental service is being offered as close as possible to the people of Celbridge. The closest possible service being offered at present is 30 km away and there is no direct public transport link from Celbridge to Naas. Many families have no car or only one car and they have no way to access that service or to get there directly. As the Minister of State can appreciate, it is too expensive to get taxis there.

If the HSE and the Minister are not going to put this service in place in the short to medium term, as committed to during the year and through correspondence, I respectfully ask that they come and engage, and try to put an interim solution in place until the state-of-the-art dental clinic is up and operating in Celbridge, which was promised 12 months ago as a centre of excellence for Celbridge and the surrounding area. We need that because families currently cannot access the services and get to their appointments, with 30 km being a step too far. Attention for this needs to be prioritised to get this project, which was committed to a year ago, back on track. It has been pushed out by four years by the Minister and the HSE. The Minister of State outlined a number of other services in his response but that is not true. I was in the primary care centre three or four months ago. The section operated by the HSE is sparse with very few services. The private sector side is operating the full service but the HSE-operated section does not have the needed services and facilities.

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