Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I had hoped for a more robust response from the Department. Given its commitment to the comprehensive review and “reform of oral healthcare services, including legislative reform, as set out in the national oral health policy”, I would have expected the Department to be much more stringent in its terms and specifically set out areas of regulation that it wished to address. I note that the Minister for Health met the Dental Council on 15 January to discuss the regulatory powers available to it under the Act. One of the key requests made by my constituent was for the Minister and Department not to be totally reliant on input from the Dental Council and instead to be cognisant of and engage with the many patients who have been adversely affected to date. I ask that this message be taken back to the Department.

I wish to address a specific point in the response that, ironically, relates to the Minister of State’s Department. As a prescribed public body, the Dental Council may rely on section 72 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007, which empowers the Dental Council to apply to the Circuit Court or High Court for an order prohibiting any dentist or person from committing or engaging in prohibited acts or practices. I do not want to put the Minister of State on the spot, but does he know whether this section has ever been used by the Dental Council or is it just there for window dressing?

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