David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support the amendment, although much of what the Irish Dental Association is calling for can be done without this amendment or even without this Bill passing were the amendment to be accepted. Of course, I support the amendment. I engaged with the Irish Dental Association on many of these issues.

It is troubling that we have a representative body lobbying us as legislators to say that standards can and should be improved in a whole range of areas. Like Deputy Shortall, I welcome the fact that the Minister has had engagement with the Irish Dental Association on a broad range of issues. When we look at waiting times for orthodontists and public dentistry, however, it is unbelievable how long people have been waiting in some community healthcare organisation, CHO, areas. In the south east where I am from, waiting times for children for orthodontic treatment can be four years, and possibly even more for some children. It is unacceptable. That is down to a lack of capacity in the system.

There is also an issue that still has not been resolved. The latest response to a parliamentary question I got back on the dental treatment service scheme shows that less dentists were availing of that service at the start of the year than the year before. That is a steady decline all the time. In the most recent budget or perhaps the one previous to it, additional funding was made available for that particular scheme. It does not seem to have worked. The Minister in his response might be able to give the House an update on whether he has had engagement with the Irish Dental Association and what the outcome of that engagement was in terms of encouraging more dentists to participate again in the dental treatment service scheme.

What its members are ultimately looking for is a new contract. They want that new contract to be underpinned by many different things, including providing more services, some of which was actually provided for that budget provision I referenced. However, whatever was provided for the budget obviously does not seem to have cut the mustard and was not enough. We are not seeing that re-engagement with the system, which is problematic. It might be something to which the Minister can respond.

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