David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A sticking plaster solution is not going to work. I welcome the fact that funding has been increased. However, additional funding can be provided, and we have just discussed home care supports where the funding is available, but we cannot get the staff to provide the service. Telling people that the funding is there is no comfort to them when the service is not being provided. Obviously, we have to fix the scheme and get dentists back into it.

There is a wider issue here as well, and it is happening across primary care. We are at the mercy of independent GPs to deliver universal GP care if that is where we want to go. It is the same with independent dentistry. Obviously, there is a role for independent practice, but we also need to consider directly hired dentists to work in the public system if we want to guarantee services for medical card holders. What has happened here is that medical card holders have been left high and dry, and I am sure the Minister will accept that. In many parts of the country people who have medical cards cannot get access to dental treatment simply because the scheme has collapsed. We have to examine new and innovative ways to address that.

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