Dental Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-26
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Michael Murphy (FG), Tipperary South

I thank the Minister of State for the reply, but there was nothing in it to give any comfort whatsoever to those children on the waiting list across the south-east, and in particular south Tipperary. I am thinking of those children who have been waiting for up to 82 months for a critical intervention. The solution is not complicated. It is about filling those posts that have been vacant since 2021. We need a targeted recruitment drive for orthodontists in the south-east. We need them now. Relying on staff travelling from Waterford to Clonmel a few days a month is not a sustainable model of care. What is needed now is a clear recovery plan with timelines, targets and accountability. It is important that we look at interim measures, including outsourcing or additional clinics, accessing capacity that is in the private sector in the same way we are doing in the context of ophthalmology to bring waiting lists down quickly. This has to be treated as a priority within the regional health structure. The Department of Health needs to intervene. This is beyond a local staffing issue. I want to see a clear plan published for how we can bring down these waiting lists. We know there are pressures nationally, but the situation in south Tipperary is more than acute and cannot be normalised. Even in a stretched system, a seven-year waiting list for a young child awaiting critical orthodontic care is indefensible. No child should spend his or her time on a waiting list. That is the bottom line.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-26