Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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485. To ask the Minister for Health if negotiations have been held with the Irish Dental Association regarding the dental treatment services scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28281/24]

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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486. To ask the Minister for Health if an agreement has been reached with the Irish Dental Association regarding attracting more dentists to the dental treatment services scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28282/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 485 and 486 together.

The Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTSS) provides dental care, free of charge, to medical card holders aged 16 and over. On foot of a meeting between myself and the Irish Dental Association (IDA) in November 2020, officials in my Department engaged with the IDA to discuss and agree a package of measures introduced from 1 May 2022, to expand the Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTSS) for adult medical card holders and increase the fees paid to contractors for most treatment items by 40-60%. These measures have improved access to care, with 154,864 additional treatments provided and over 26,700 extra patients treated in 2023 when compared with 2022.

In the longer term, the Government is committed to reforming dental services, including the DTSS, through the implementation of the National Oral Health Policy (NOHP), Smile Agus Sláinte . The service reform priorities for 2024, as captured in the HSE's National Service Plan, include:

• Development of a comprehensive phased policy implementation plan for the range of actions identified in the policy, including stakeholder engagement and resource identification;
• Progression of oral healthcare packages for children aged from birth to seven years of age; and
• The design of clinical elements for reformed preventative care for adult medical cardholders as referenced in the policy.