Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)

With regard to the Deputy's question on the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, I will have to look for further information on that. I only have the information in front of me, which I have already presented to him. I will ask the Minister to follow up with the Deputy on that specific question.

With regard to the dental workforce, the Deputy quoted some figures but I can only quote what is in front of me. It is my understanding from the Department of Health that the Dental Council has reported a steady increase in the number of registered dentists since 2016, from 2,949 to 3,823 today. This reflects positive progress in strengthening our dental workforce. As of 2022, there were 2,420 practising dentists in Ireland, marking a 3.9% increase from the previous year. The number of registered dentists per 1,000 population has risen from 61 in 2019 to nearly 72 today.

The Deputy also mentioned something earlier about an outreach centre in north Cork. The Department of Health has received a strong proposal from University College Cork, requesting €4.7 million in capital funding to establish a dental outreach centre. This would enable training of an additional ten undergraduate dental students annually, particularly benefiting Irish and EU students. While the proposal is promising, it currently delivers limited increases in domestic student places. There is a clear opportunity for both Departments to collaborate further to maximise investment and expand domestic training capacity to meet Ireland's dental workforce needs. Discussions are currently ongoing between the Department of Health and my Department to try to progress this proposal with a view to maximising Irish and EU places to obtain value for money for this proposal.

See this speech in context