Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)

I fully accept that the Minister of State and her Department are working very hard on this issue, but there is a crisis here. We have got to deal with it before the college places are awarded in UCC and Trinity. That is the reason why I am asking the Department to engage with them.

The other issue that needs to be dealt with - and this is a case where both the Department of Health and the Department of higher education need to work - is that there needs to be a clear plan put in place to deal with the number of dentists retiring over the next five years. Even if we increase the number of student places, we will still not deal with that issue. There are figures available. I am surprised that the Department of Health did not look at far earlier. I am concerned by what the Minister of State said about its engagement in a process. Engaging in a process may take two years. This is a priority. The figures are clear. Some 110,000 fewer people are being seen under the public scheme for dental care. In addition, there are 30,000 fewer students in our primary schools being reviewed by dentists. That figure is from 2017.

The other issue that has come to my attention is training for dental hygienists. For instance, I understand that in Trinity last year, there were 12 people taken in on the dental hygienists' programme. There were more than 200 applicants. Again, dental practices are not able to recruit people because there are not enough people available. People are going abroad to train in that area. Likewise, students who cannot get into the Irish system for dental training are going to places like Poland for training.

It is an absolute disgrace that Irish leaving certificate students who are competent and want to go into this area have to go abroad while 44% of all dental students in Irish colleges are from outside the European Union. That has to be addressed.

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