Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to cover the dental, ophthalmic and oral services. The wording of the Health (Amendment) Act 1996, and Mr. Justice Quirke's recommended wording in appendix E, is "dental, ophthalmic and aural treatment and dental, optical and aural appliances". The wording in the Bill is not the same as that in the 1996 Act, and we need to hear the Minister of State's commentary on that.

As the Minister of State will be aware, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, amended the wording of the GP service at section 2(1)(a) after Committee Stage in the Dáil to remove the reference to the 1970 Act. She did this, very kindly, to make it clear that the women would be entitled to private GP care rather than the normal medical card standard GP care. It was wonderful. The Minister of State needs to do the same for dental, ophthalmic and oral services.