Dental Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-13
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Marian Harkin (IND), Sligo-Leitrim

I am sure at the committee meeting tomorrow the Deputy will have the opportunity to question the Department representatives. I am not here to defend its figures but I can quote them and I can say that we have increased by 33% the number of students commencing dentistry studies in 2025. That is factually correct. The Department of Health also tells me that we have had a steady increase in the number of registered dentists since 2016, from 2,949 to 3.945 today. The number of registered dentists per 1,000 of population has risen from 61 in 2019 to nearly 72 today. I understand we have to make more progress but those are the figures that have been supplied to me. I assure the Deputy we are committed to responding proactively to future workforce requirements. I made a special point today of speaking to officials in my Department because I recognise that this is an issue the Deputy has raised on many occasions and an issue to which he wants answers. I fully understand this. The officials from my Department have told me that the Higher Education Authority and University College Cork are meeting in the coming weeks to discuss the next stages of progressing the proposal in regard to the outreach centre. There are a number of issues they have to work out. Student training and student supervision were some of the issues mentioned to me. However, the Deputy should have an update in the near future.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-13