Dental Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (FG), Dún Laoghaire

I thank the Deputy and the Committee on Health for their work on oral health and I welcome their report. I have read it and it aligns with many of the frustrations being brought to me. I understand the frustrations of families and individuals who are experiencing this with the current service. To be really clear, the current position on dental services is not good enough. Too many people cannot get timely care and too many of those are children. We have to do two things at the same time. We have to take practical steps to improve access now and we also have to deliver lasting reform. The model of services we operate is largely rooted in the 1990s and it really needs to be modernised to meet today's needs.
While that reform is being progressed, however, I am determined to ease the pressure people are facing now. What that means is improving access through the public system, especially for children and adult medical card holders. My Department and the HSE are finalising a more focused two-year programme to attempt to do just that.
The plan is going to be delivered by a dedicated governance group with progress monitored closely and aligned to wider HSE and departmental priorities. It will aim to respond to sustained service pressures, workforce constraints and long waiting lists. It will focus on a small number of very clear priorities: cut waiting lists in the school dental programme and orthodontics, strengthen and expand the special access programme, review and improve the dental treatment services scheme, support recruitment, education and training, and then really lean into whatever innovations are appropriate for different ways to deliver care.
Over the next two years, our aim is to stabilise services, reduce waiting times and make access measurably better while at the same time laying the groundwork for longer term reform. This will be achieved by initiatives such as utilising the newly available capacity with the new surgical hubs. A small proportion of cases, but not all, will be suitable because some will require general anaesthetic. My Department and HSE officials have already initiated engagements on this with many of the stakeholders, but it is important that they brief the committee as well when the plan is better finalised.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21