Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State and I am sorry that we are dealing with this so late in the evening. What action is the Department of higher education taking to increase the number of dental training places in our universities? This is in view of the fact that no increase has occurred in the past 25 years while the population of the country has increased by 1.6 million people.

Moreover, will the Minister of State explain why 44% of training places in our universities are made available to non-EU students?

I will give the figures for final year students in Trinity College Dublin: 46 students, of which 25 are Irish or EU students and 21 are non-EU students. In University College Cork, there are 61 students of which 25 are EU students, which includes Irish students, and 36 are non-EU students. They are the figures for final year in our colleges. We have a huge increase in population and we have not responded.

To give an idea about treatment, in 2012, 394,399 availed of it under the public health service. In 2023, the figure was 283,000. That is down more than 100,000. In 2012, there were 1,432 dentists offering to provide dental care under the public scheme. In 2024, it was down to 810, yet our population had increased dramatically. There is also an additional issue in that we now have an older population. Going back 30 or 40 years, most older people tended to have dentures. That has now totally changed so there are now more older people who require dental treatment as well. The Department of Health has acknowledged that there are 2,420 dentists in the country. That is 47 dentists per 100,000 people or one dentist per 2,125 people.

We need to forward plan. Even if, in the morning, we decided to increase the number of places, it would still take five years before the students would be out there. There is an easy way to deal with this and the Irish Dental Association has already set it out quite clearly. The places are there but we are giving them to non-EU students. We need to decrease the number of non-EU students and increase the number of Irish and other EU students. We do not have to put extra money into it, except to replace the money the colleges are getting from non-EU students with money from the Department so we can improve and increase the number of training places available. It is not that we have to build new structures or provide more equipment. We do not. It is already there. The Irish Dental Association has suggested that we decrease the number of non-EU students to 20%. It did not say to cut them out completely but to reduce the number. We have to give more funding. I do not care what answer the Department gives tonight. This has been put on the back burner for far too long. We were to build a new dental school in Cork, we had identified a site, we got the planning permission, funding was not available and the whole project was abandoned. Now we are in a scenario where we have population growth, people are living longer and we do not have the dentists to look after them. Now is the time to take action and we need to take it before 1 September.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter regarding the availability of dental training places, which I will take on behalf of the Minister.

This Government is firmly committed to ensuring our healthcare system is supported by a steady and sustainable pipeline of highly skilled graduates. The Department, in collaboration with the Department of Health, the Higher Education Authority, HEA, and higher education institutions, HEIs, plays a central role in delivering the education and training infrastructure needed to meet the evolving demands of the healthcare workforce, including in critical areas such as oral healthcare and dentistry. Ensuring adequate capacity to train future dentists is part of our broader commitment to workforce planning that supports the health and well-being of our population.

Until this year, approximately 60 places were available each year to Irish and EU students on dentistry courses. The Department recognises that this represents a limited training pipeline at a time when the demand for oral healthcare, both clinical and preventative, is increasing nationally. The number of places offered is a matter for the higher education institutions, in line with their autonomy. However, I acknowledge that due to a high level of practical work, there can be material constraints on the number of students that can be accepted onto dentistry courses. While the Department does not set quotas for student places, we work closely with the Department of Health and the HEA to explore how capacity can be sustainably expanded in key health disciplines, including dentistry.

In 2023, the HEA carried out a targeted capacity expansion exercise across priority healthcare areas. One key outcome was the establishment of new dentistry programmes, including a new bachelor of dental surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI, commencing in 2025. This new programme will follow a community-based model of dental education and will provide at least 20 new dentistry places per annum for Irish and EEA students, significantly enhancing national training capacity. This expansion represents a landmark 33% increase in student intake and clearly demonstrates the Department’s and this Government’s firm commitment to strengthening the oral healthcare workforce and supplying the graduates needed for a modern, accessible health system. I reaffirm the Department’s commitment to working with all relevant stakeholders to ensure any future expansion of dental education is grounded in evidence, responds to national needs and is delivered in a sustainable manner.

It is my understanding that the Department of Health is conducting a scoping exercise to support a skills assessment workforce census across the oral healthcare sector. This will form the foundation for future policy and programme development. The Department stands ready to work with HEIs and the Department of Health to ensure any changes to professional scope are matched with appropriate and high-quality educational provision. I have been informed that the Department of Health is also examining the feasibility of a new mid-level oral health professional grade. The outcomes of this work, which is due to be published shortly, may have further implications for the number and type of training places needed in the coming years across oral healthcare.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I would like clarity on the RCSI. Will those students be fee-paying students or is will they come under the education system and be the same as any other students? I always thought that RCSI was full of fee-paying students.

Second, an extra 20 places is not sufficient and the figures show that. The number of dentists now offering public services has decreased from slightly more than 1,400 down to 810. We have lost 600 and we will lose another 200 to 300 in the coming months with the way things are going. The other issue is that there are now fewer dentists working with the HSE compared with four years ago. There are 30 fewer dentists working with the HSE. This is not a situation that will be resolved by 20 new places. There is an easy way to deal with this, and I have set it out already: reduce the number of training places for non-EU students in our colleges and increase the number of Irish students. It is easy to do. No extra funding is needed except additional money to be provided to the colleges to provide those training places. If the number in UCC is reduced from 38 to 18, for example, the money for the 18 then being taken in as Irish students needs to be made up. It has to be looked at.

I love these expressions that a scoping exercise will be done or something is being examined. The figures are there. There is no need for any examination. We are short of dentists.

I met a young person recently who has a disability and needed extractions. The earliest he can get an appointment in the public service is in 12 months' time. The family ended up having to pay €10,000 because, to get the extractions done, he has to have an anaesthetic and a consultant anaesthetist has to be in place. It will cost €10,000 because he could not get access to the public service. That cannot go on and, even if we start in the morning, it will be five years before the people are available.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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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.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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On the issue of increase in numbers, that is because there are dentists coming in from abroad.

Keira Keogh (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Burke has had his time.