Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I want to reiterate that although 900 people were assessed in Cavan, in County Monaghan zero children were assessed. That needs to change and something needs to happen immediately. Sinn Féin outlined our proposals to address the crisis fostered by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in our dental services. A year ago, my party colleague and Sinn Féin spokesperson, Deputy Cullinane, published our health plan. It highlighted that between 2019 and 2024, nearly half of dentists providing publicly funded care to medical card holders had withdrawn from the dental treatment services scheme. Nearly 80% of those who remained were not taking on new patients. The Government's oversight of the denial of services has been seen in low-income households that have been denied the opportunity to save teeth and prevent oral disease. In the long term, it will cost households and the State more. The Government has not heeded the warnings from the Dental Council of Ireland, the Irish Dental Association or Sinn Féin and we are dealing with the consequences. We can now pay heed to Sinn Féin's plan. The Minister of State needs to do this. We need to hire more dentists and dental care teams to target school screening for children and medical card holders. Sinn Féin would expand dental training places by 32% from 185 to 245, develop a modern general dental services contract, crucially including a public-only contract, and make necessary reforms to the Dentists Act. A year ago, Sinn Féin said we needed to get dental screening programmes in schools back on track. In my county of Monaghan, the programme has come off the tracks entirely. Will the Government implement the necessary measures that I have outlined?

Will the Minister of State give a guarantee that the schools programme will be reinstated in County Monaghan this year?

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