Dental Services Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-10 ============================================================ Mary Butler (FF), Waterford I thank the Senator for raising the important issue of why the school dental service in Killybegs, County Donegal has not been restored since the retirement of the previous dentist. The HSE oral healthcare service aims to provide an oral examination and necessary treatment for children at the approximate ages they are in second and sixth class and, in some cases, fourth class. Emergency care is provided to children of all ages up to 16 and for those with complex and additional needs. The Minister for Health is aware that there are currently backlogs in the HSE's child oral health examination programme, which has meant that sixth class children are being prioritised. I compliment the Minister that yesterday the Cabinet approved draft legislation for continuing professional development for dentists, to support more dentists and to update the legislation, which has been in place since 1985. This is an important move because we are aware of challenges in dentistry around the country and especially in remote areas. The HSE has advised that the dental clinic in Killybegs closed in December 2024, ahead of the planned retirement of a dentist in May 2025, as the Senator said. The premises no longer meet updated regulatory and compliance requirements. Patients were referred to a new state-of-the-art dental clinic in Donegal town to continue their treatment. Children are also offered emergency care at this clinic, but I take on board the point the Senator made that there was no consultation and that this happened without anyone being aware of it. Recruitment of an additional dentist for the Donegal town service to fill the post vacated in Killybegs is under way and the head of service in Donegal anticipates this post will be filled early next year. The HSE assures that appointments will be offered to children who have been waiting the longest as a priority once the post is filled. When I read this response before I came over to take this matter, being a Minister of State in the Department of Health, I saw two ways to look at this. The premises obviously did not meet regulatory and compliance requirements, which is an issue. My understanding is that there is a state-of-the-art premises in Donegal town. There is dentistry there and there will be an additional dentist early in the new year. The Senator is pointing to the fact that there was no consultation and coupled with that, he is pointing to the time it takes for people to get from Killybegs to Donegal town. I visited Donegal in my capacity as the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health at the start of September. I visited the three child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, teams. I met the clinical director of the inpatient unit of the approved centre for mental health. I also met several doctors. I was pleased by the way all the clinicians seemed to work together and support each other. That is really important. The Senator may not be aware of this but those medical professionals were very concerned about outpatient mental health supports. I included funding in budget 2026 for a crisis resolution team for Donegal, including a crisis café with recurring funding of €1.3 million for a multidisciplinary team of up to ten people. I know I have moved off the subject but I want to let the Senator know that there is recognition of the geographical challenges in such a large county. Killybegs is right on the periphery. I will speak to the Minister and raise the Senator's concerns about the fact that there is not going to be a service available. I am not sure what the knock-on effect will be for those who may not be in a position to travel for that support. As he said, it could take up to half a day and it also means that parents lose time at work. I get the point about the need for governance issues. Having more capacity in one particular area works well. I understand the geographical challenges that people in Donegal are having. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-10/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:26+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-12-10