Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are investing further into the scheme. The Deputy will also be aware from the budget that I have allocated funding for a national service now for early years oral health dental intervention for children, which will make a big difference. This is not to detract from the very real problems that patients with medical cards are having in trying to access services. We are aware of it and are allocating more and more money into the services, but at the moment many dentists are simply making more money from private practice than from treating public patients. We will continue to engage.

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