Dental Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-05
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Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (FG), Dún Laoghaire

I agree with the Deputy. While the broad legislative suite is in place and there are existing powers are under the Dentists Act, I have no difficulty with a review and strengthening them where needed. I recognise the suite of legislative powers I outlined so we need to be very specific as to the additional powers necessary. I have no difficulty in strengthening the powers of the Dental Council of Ireland to do just that. We are talking about potentially unremediable assault on a person in their mouth or on their face. It is an appalling thing to happen to any person. We need to make sure the powers are as robust as necessary. There is simply no question on that. I signal a change I want to make to the Act to enable direct access for dental hygienists. That would require an amendment to section 54. Direct access refers to the ability of a dental hygienist to initiate treatment within their scope of practice based on assessments of patients' needs without the specific authorisation of a dentist. That is a change I want to make to enable the workforce but that is for dental hygiene work not necessarily dental work. There is distinction, of course.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-05/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:44+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-05