Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)

I am glad to get this opportunity. I thank Deputy Brian Stanley for tabling the motion on this very important and serious matter to give us all the chance to say a few words on it. We know the scenario in County Kerry is very drastic. Practically no dentist will take a patient on a medical card to remove or extract a tooth or to deal with that patient at all. Gladly, when people were in very dire circumstances, we found places for them in another county. That is a poor reflection. Some of these people are on a State pension. They worked all their lives, and contributed their stamps and all that, but their medical card is not taken. They have a medical card. The dentists say to me they have no agreement with the State and are not being properly compensated for carrying out the work. They do not undertake the work then. They are very busy anyway. For the people who paid their stamps, what is pay related social insurance, PRSI, for? It does not cover dental services anymore. At least, dentists are saying it does not cover it.

There are then young people. I have dealt with many cases of girls and boys, who are coming up to their group cert or leaving cert, who become shy because their mouths are wrong and they need extractions, straightening and a whole lot of work. The longer that goes on and their mouths become firm, it is way more difficult and a much bigger job. It is easier to do that type of work when the children are aged 13 or 14. I know of one girl whose mother was so concerned about her. She would not leave her room, she was missing days in school and she would not go out in the evening. Her mother was constantly worried about her. It took about two years to get that little girl seen. She is a lovely girl and is doing very well now, but we had a battle to get her seen. There have been many other cases.

When we were going to primary school ourselves, the dentist called to the school and undertook whatever was to be done. The dentist talked to the parents and we got sorted out. However, that is not the case any more. This is a new Government but the same system pertained all through the last Government. Many of the Ministers and members of the Government are the same. I urge the Minister of State to look at this very serious matter to see if it can be improved. That must happen because it is just not fair. It is a health issue when a person's teeth go wrong, given that so many other things go wrong as a result. When there is an oral health problem, it causes adverse issues and other parts of the body not to work right. On top of that, there is the pain of it. There was a publican across the road from ourselves, John Reilly, who used to say about teeth that they were trouble coming and they were trouble going. There is a lot of trouble with the system now.

We are grateful to Brian Stanley for recognising the issue, identifying the problem and bringing it forward here today. The main point is that dentists are not taking the medical card. We must bring people who are in a bad way outside the county. I ask the Minister of State to look at Kerry especially for this very reason. Some bits of a service are happening in Cork. Deputy Flynn says there are no dentists taking the medical card in Mallow, but there are other parts of Cork where they do. Nothing is happening in Kerry. That is the honest truth of it. Dentists are upset about it. They do not want to be refusing people. The Government must sort it out. It is about money. People are paying into the scheme.

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