Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is more than welcome. I raise the issue today of the review of dental services in west Cork, which is a very significant issue that we are trying to deal with at the moment. It is very appropriate to have a Minister of State with an understanding of west Cork with us this morning. That is very helpful.

The issue I raise is the school dental service. We are dealing with a shocking scenario whereby at the moment we have only two dental clinics open in west Cork, in the Bantry and Clonakilty areas. The clinics in Skibbereen, Schull, Castletownbere and Dunmanway were all closed. It is an amazing scenario that nearly 76% of the capacity we had for the school dental programme is not working in west Cork at the moment. There is a brand new primary care centre in Castletownbere and it is fully kitted out but there is no dentist there. In the primary care centre in Schull, a dentist was transferred from another practice. The clinic in Skibbereen closed in 2020 and the clinic in Dunmanway closed in recent weeks.

The service was ten times better ten years ago. That is a significant issue for parents of children in the more than 80 primary schools in the west Cork area. We are currently left with 2.5 dentists in the entire catchment area. I know the Minister of State understands the geography of the area. The journey from Clonakilty to Castletownbere is the same as travelling from Dublin to Kilkenny. There are 2.5 dentists covering 80 primary schools at the moment. The knock-on implication is obvious. The usual scenario is that children should go to dentists in first, third and sixth classes, but they would be lucky now to get an appointment in sixth class. Fissure seals and other such treatments are not being provided. I can only imagine the knock-on implication down the line because we are going to have huge issues regarding dental care because of the lack of dentists on the ground.

I was talking to local councillors. I met Caroline Cronin in Schull last Monday about this issue. It is frightening to think that in that part of the world down in Mizen, which is geographically tight, they cannot get a dentist in Schull. That is a huge issue for the school catchment area. We need to find out why we cannot get dentists into west Cork.What is the long-term strategy here? There is an enormous issue in respect of how we get professionals to come to geographically challenged areas. The cost of living is lower and housing is available. One would assume there are opportunities for a perfect lifestyle balance. If one comes to work in Schull, Skibbereen, Castletownbere in west Cork tomorrow, the cost of housing will be appropriate. One would assume that is what people would want but for some reason, the HSE cannot encourage or get dental graduates to come to town. We need an answer. It is frightening that four of our six dental surgeries have closed and there are now only two and a half dentists in the area. The Minister of State knows the geographical area better than any other Minister in these Houses.

This is a unique story that needs a unique answer. What are we going to do to encourage dentists to come to live in west Cork and how can we provide a service for the children that is not there at the moment?