Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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2. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the preparation of the long promised new dental Bill; the reason it is taking such an inordinate length of time to produce; if he is aware of the serious concerns regarding any row-back on the registration of all key players across the dental health care team; if he will confirm that it is intended that the Dental Council will have overall registration responsibility and oversight, including the power to inspect premises; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36809/15]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I seek to establish the current status of preparation of the new dental Bill. Why it has taken so long to prepare and present? Is the Minister aware of concerns about the registration of all the different professional roles within the overall dental health care team and the intended roles and responsibilities of the Dental Council on the enactment of the new legislation - that is, in relation to registration, responsibility and oversight, and, specifically, the power to inspect premises? These are the matters I wish to see addressed.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Work is ongoing on the preparation of a new dental Bill. It is based on a comprehensive public consultation process which informed the key policy issues that are now shaping the drafting of the Bill. The Bill will bring about significant change in fitness to practice, regulation, registration and the constitution of the Dental Council. The legislation will provide for the regulation and inspection of dental practices by the Dental Council. These proposals also ensure modernisation of the legislation regarding governance of the council, specified functions of council, education and training and continuous professional development. A regulatory impact analysis is also under way. There is no row-back on the registration of allied dental professions. It is proposed that those allied dental professions whose scope of practise has been determined by the Dental Council as being suitable for independent practice will have mandatory registration and be made subject to fitness to practice. The council will make this determination based on its assessment of the level and nature of the risk posed to patient safety.

Allied dental professions not determined by the council as being suitable for independent practice will not have mandatory registration. However, the Dental Council may introduce rules to regulate the training and education standards and to protect the titles of these professions. It will be an offence for a person to falsely present as having the approved education and training standard or to falsely use a protected title.

Over the last number of years, the Department has updated the legislation for doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists and 14 health and social care professionals. This has provided for greater accountability and comprehensive regulatory governance of these professions. It was a major body of legislative work. The experience of this, and of implementing these revised arrangements, will inform the Department's consideration of priorities for further legislation in the area of professional regulation. This includes the drafting of the new Dental Bill during the course of 2016. Department officials are also currently committed to drafting a priority health (miscellaneous provisions) Bill. The primary purpose of this is to amend all health profession regulator Acts as a consequence of the transposition into Irish law by January 2016 of the modernised professionals qualification directive.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State has not explained why there is such a delay in the presentation of this new legislation. The existing Dental Act 1985 is 30 years old. When the Minister of State makes the point in relation to the Dental Council and allied dental health professions and, specifically, those who an practice independently, she is failing to take on board the Dental Council's own very clear position in respect of this matter and the registration of all those who make up the dental health care team. Appearing before the Joint Committee on Health and Children on 8 October, Dr. Eamon Croke, the president of the Dental Council, said the Dental Council believes that all members of the dental health care team should undergo mandatory registration, with the Dental Council making no distinction between those who can practice independently and those in other areas of responsibility, such as dental nurses, hygienists and dental technicians.

If what the Minister of State is talking about is to proceed, it would be only dentists and clinical dental technicians who would be required to register and this is simply not enough. Can the Minister revisit this matter?

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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That is not what we are saying. What we are saying is that those who will be deemed fit to have an independent practice will have mandatory registration but I do think it is important. This area is as subject to change as anything else. The issue of the proportionality of regulation is being examined in the UK and Europe. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care in the UK recently published a paper rethinking regulation which emphasises the need to apply "right touch" regulation to the regulation of health and care services in the UK. It cautions about the need to be aware of what regulation can and cannot do to contain risk and that statutory registration is not always the most effective approach. We should be conscious of that happening.

The reason for the delay is that there was a wide consultation process. Oral health is not just about dentists, as the Deputy rightly points out, and there were other players in the field who needed to be consulted. That happened over a long period.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I strongly disagree. The professional regulation unit's notes relating to this matter from August 2015 refer to allied dental health professions who are not allowed to practise independently, which is everyone other than dentists, orthodontists and clinical dental technicians. It is important that the Minister of State understands that while not registering the professions, the Dental Council may introduce rules, etc. It is critically important that it is recognised that not only Dr. Croke but the entire panel which came before us, including the board members and representatives of the Dublin Dental Hospital, indicated very clearly that they want mandatory registration across the board for the very sound reason that once one registers and regulates an area, standards improve and one has authority across the board. I am asking for a re-evaluation so that not only the independent practitioners I have named but those who are the allied support professions within the overall dental health care team, including dental technicians, dental nurses, hygienists and others, are under mandatory registration. That is very important.

In respect of the powers to inspect, will the Minister of State clarify whether, after the enactment of the new legislation, the Dental Council will have the power to inspect and close illegal practices in the public interest because that has not happened heretofore?

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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That is the reason there will be a new dental Bill and the council will have those powers. All the other professions that have been registered up to this point have had power under the fitness to practise area and this is a significant power. In looking at all the other regulatory bodies in respect of fitness to practise, I am not sure that each registration council needs such a body on its own. We may take a look at centralising that but fitness to practise will be central to what the council will do. It will come about in most cases through complaints from the public but in other cases through the council's inspections. We need to wait and see what the Bill will propose and I have every faith in our Chief Dental Officer because she is very familiar with the area and has taken all of the issues raised by the Deputy on board.