Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I take it the work will continue, they can claim retrospectively and approval is granted by the dentist. The Minister referred to competition and Senator Burke made a good point about how people are travelling abroad to other jurisdictions. The Irish Dental Association made a submission commenting that a new economic study shows that with removal of subsidised and free treatment the Government and patients will end up paying €3 for every €1 currently spent on the PRSI scheme. It continues by pointing out that the lost revenue and income, redundancy costs and increased hospital care for dental treatment and incidence of oral cancer will add to the long-term bill for this mistake. I would like to hear the Minister's rationale for this. As Senator Burke said, this could become cost neutral and I appeal to the Minister to reconsider this section of the Bill.