Seanad debates

Thursday, 16 December 2021

Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters

Dental Services

10:30 am

Photo of Robbie GallagherRobbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber this morning. Dental services in Ireland are exempt from VAT in accordance with EU legislation. This is vitally important, because dental treatment should be cost-effective and it should be provided at a cost that does not prohibit public or private patients from availing of it. A new interpretation by the Revenue Commissioners, however, concerning fees paid by associate dentists to principal dentists, threatens to undermine Ireland’s dental scheme entirely and to cause many problems for dental practices and the patients who use those practices regularly.

Many fear that the increased costs which will be incurred by dentists from having to apply an additional charge in respect of VAT at 23% will result in people putting off visits to their dentist or simply not going at all because they cannot afford to do so. A VAT increase of 23% will mean higher costs for dentists and patients. Dental practices across Ireland will be impacted, but particularly those in the Border region where I come from. They already face stiff competition from dentists in Northern Ireland, because a 23% VAT rate is not charged there.

Approximately 300 dentists practising across the Border region are directly threatened by the imposition of this VAT rate. All of them will be subject to increased costs and some consideration must be given to the impact this development will have on ordinary people and the increased costs they will end up paying for their dental care. This situation also has serious implications for the future of many dental practices. An added VAT liability of 23% would have enormous economic implications and consequences for the viability of dental practices in the Border region that compete, as I said earlier, with dentists in Northern Ireland. This is an issue that would affect dentists across the entire Republic of Ireland, where access to dental care is already at crisis level.

Representatives of the Irish dental sector maintain that it is already in a state of crisis. At present, the medical card system in this regard, the dental treatment services scheme, DTSS, operated by dentists for the HSE, is losing participating dentists daily at a significant rate.The latest figures suggest there are fewer than 700 dentists operating a scheme that caters for 1.5 million medical cardholders. This equates to more than 2,000 patients per dentist. If a VAT liability is applied to dentists there would be widespread closures of dental practices and a further decline in the service to the public. I am disappointed to see that the HSE and the Department have failed to engage on the DTSS, which is a separate issue but it is connected to what I am talking about here this morning.

A recent survey carried out across 19 EU countries showed that none of them were charging VAT at 23% for dental services. This also applies in the UK. This issue needs to be looked at with a degree of urgency. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber this morning to take this issue on behalf of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe. I plead with the Minister of State that a meeting could be organised between the Irish Dental Association and the Minister to try to work out some solution to this problem.

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