Third Level Education
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-11
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Colm Burke (FG), Cork North-Central

We have a problem, not in the Minister's Department but in the Department of Health. We previously had over 1,250 dentists working privately and providing care for people who had medical cards. The number of dentists in that area is down to 600. Likewise, the number of dentists employed directly by the HSE has dropped from over 300 in 2014 to 250. That is in the context of a huge growth in population. We have huge challenges in the dental area. The other issue relates to schools. In the programme where dentists visit schools and provide advice to students, the number of students being seen has dropped dramatically. I had parents contact me in the past week whose children first saw a dentist in secondary school. We need to increase the numbers so we can deal with the growing demand.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-11