Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is welcome. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for choosing this Commencement debate. As a member of the Joint Committee on Health, I am raising the need to update the Dentists Act 1985. There are a number of aspects of the Act that need to be updated and improved in order to prevent the fall-out that befell parents and children in County Galway last year when an orthodontist in Oranmore closed. Serious questions remain with regard to record sharing, protocol responsibility, moneys being paid and insurance, among others, and these areas require updating. Parents are still feeling the effects of that.

I raised this matter with the Irish Dental Association at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Health on 5 July. At that meeting, Mr. Fintan Hourihan, the CEO of the Irish Dental Association, stated:

It is critical to get in to prevent a problem so, if, for some reason, a dentist is having difficulty continuing in practice, there is an opportunity to intervene at an early stage and sit down to try to work out a solution, rather than wait for the inevitable. That requires a change in the legislation. The Dental Council will say, correctly, it is not entitled to proactively contact a dentist or visit a dental practice because the legislation does not allow for that and that, ultimately, dental practices are private enterprises. As an association, we believe there should be changes to the legislation to allow that, in the interests of the dentists, who may be in difficult circumstances, and of their patients, who will suffer as a consequence. We support the Dental Council in calling for legislation which will allow it to intervene proactively in such a scenario.

At the same meeting, Dr. Eamon Croke, the president of the Irish Dental Association, stated:

We have come across people who have come into the country and have closed the doors overnight and left. Change in legislation is required to get in there and deal with the human side of it.

I have spoken again to parents in the general Galway area as the orthodontist in question had clients all over the county. They have stated that many people have contacted the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, to get support. They say that where a dentist has insurance, the insurance company should refund the parents for the loss they incurred. They do not understand why that has not been the case. Regardless of what happens in the courts, the orthodontist's insurance should surely cover the costs. However, the insurance company is not engaging and Government intervention is needed to support the claims for insurance.

I wrote to the Minister for Health in August. He replied that the matter of refunding the money paid is not really up to his Department. He stated:

Issues relating to the refunding of fees are, unfortunately a broader issue, outside the remit of my Department, instead relating to consumer law under the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) and so the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the statutory body responsible for promoting compliance with, and enforcing, competition and consumer protection law in Ireland and are best placed to advise ...

As I said, parents have contacted the CCPC and they have received no support. The Minister agreed on the wider need to update the legislation because this could happen again. We are left in a situation where no one can intervene. No one can go and collect the files or proactively engage. As I said, people can come into the country, set up a practice and then close the doors and leave. They may have collected money but they can leave children or patients halfway through procedures with a mouthful of braces and everything else like that. Those patients could be left in a situation where they have paid upfront and their care is left incomplete. There is an urgent need to update this legislation. I look forward to the Minister of State's response.