Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleague, an Teachta Cullinane, in saying it is very disappointing the senior Minister is not here. This is an important matter, it is Opposition time and it is a time when the Opposition have, or should have, a chance to address senior Ministers directly. It is very disappointing he could not make himself available for this.

I listened with some interest to the Minister of State's speech. I am a fan of fiction so it was possibly not as painful for me as it was for some. However, he has to be living on a different planet to come in here and tell us there is any kind of dental plan at all. As was pointed out, there is a class element to this because if you have the money, you can trot off and purchase dental services, but for my constituents in north county Dublin who do not have the money and who are in need of dental services, if any of them looks up the HSE website, it will say please be advised there are no walk-in dental emergency clinics operating at this time and attendance is by appointment only. The Minister of State knows well that because of the manner in which the Government has systematically decimated the dental services within this State, that preventative care does not happen. It does not happen in our schools or in our communities. Therefore, people get left in a situation whereby every issue turns into an emergency. If you have an emergency and you think of contacting the dental hospital which perhaps might be able to help you, you will see on its website that any patient who requires emergency treatment should in the first instance contact his or her own dentist or, if eligible, the local health board clinic.

People are going from Billy to Jack literally over and over again without getting anyone to treat them. For many people the choice then is a credit union loan and a trip to a private dentist if they can get one. Others must wait until the situation deteriorates to the point where an extraction is required. This is what we hear in my offices in Balbriggan and in Swords. That is what we hear when we are out on the campaign trail. Time and again people tell us that because there is no intervention and no preventative care, people are ending up having to get extractions. The Minister has acknowledged this himself on a number of occasions. Our extraction rates are very high and they should not be. Minister of State, it is not enough just to accept the motion; you should act on the motion.

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