Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy that it is absolutely unacceptable that a young child in these circumstances, Tiernan Power Murphy, should be denied urgent oral healthcare and dental healthcare in terms of the extraction of teeth.

The fact that we are dealing with the condition of autism as well exacerbates the unacceptable nature of this. The Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, has been in touch with and spoken to the HSE. The HSE, I understand, is engaging with the family on this and a solution will be found immediately in respect of this specific case, as it should be. I believe the regional executive officer has acted on this. My understanding is the case was not elevated to the regional executive officer.

That does not take away from the broader issue of oral healthcare, dental healthcare and orthodontics more generally. This has been an issue in engagement between the Department and the Irish Dental Association for quite some time. Initiatives were taken last year in respect of endeavouring to break logjams. Over €200 million is now invested annually in the provision of oral healthcare. I believe that when such large sums of money are now allocated to various services, and I am saying this from the Government's perspective, this is not a resource issue. There are fundamental issues within dentistry - I accept that - but within services, when large-scale allocations are being made, the idea that situations such as this cannot be resolved is not acceptable. There has to be a more responsive approach. I will be talking to the chief executive officer of the HSE in respect of this. To be fair to him, he endeavours to be solutions-driven in resolving cases of this kind. Very often when children have special needs, the additional needs compound the condition and the experience for the child in terms of the particular issue he or she may have, in this case, the necessity to extract three teeth and the child being in extraordinary pain on an ongoing basis. These issues should be elevated and resolved. There are enough resources to resolve them. The broader issue also needs to be resolved.

Go bunúsach, tá an-chuid anois á caitheamh ó thaobh caiteachais ag an Rialtas ar chúrsaí oideachais, ar chúrsaí sláinte agus go háirithe i gcomhthéacs leanaí le gánna speisialta agus breise. Tá an-chuid airgid ann anois. Caithfimid agus caithfidh an córas bheith in ann cásanna den saghas seo a réiteach agus a réiteach go tapaidh.

More generally, if the Deputy looks, for example, at the education budget now, which is quite substantial, 25% of it is allocated to special education. The general situation is changing in terms of the growth as a percentage of population of people with disabilities more generally. In terms of children, the 2016 and 2022 censuses show there has been a very significant increase in the number of people presenting with disabilities or conditions that reduce capacity. It is quite an extraordinary increase in terms of the general population. It is also quite significant in terms of children. That means we have to ramp up significantly expenditure and resources, which we have. If the Deputy looks at special education alone, the number of extra classes and extra teachers is quite significant compared to two or three years ago.

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