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

I will point out that the fees were increased by an order of 40% in that scheme. While I appreciate what the Deputy is saying, the fees were also increased by 40% and there is more complexity. I attended the dental association's conference. There is more complexity to the full range of practice that many dentists are engaged in and the other routes of practice, including aesthetics. I do not just mean aesthetic dentistry, which is important and was well defended at the dental association conference by its president. I just needed to make that point as well.
The Deputy highlighted schoolchildren, who are a particular concern of mine. We have engaged with the dental association, the Irish Dental Hygienists' Association and the Dental Council to look at how we are going to deliver near-term improvements in the school programme in particular, how we can use the complete workforce, including hygienists and dental nurses, and how we can broaden the ways in which they are trained. We are engaging with the Department of further and higher education on that so that we can get the best out of our complete dental workforce.

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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