I have raised this matter on a few occasions previously. Will the Minister outline what action is being taken to increase the percentage of places available on the dental training course in UCC, given that less than half the places on the current programme are occupied by Irish students, and that we need to increase the number of qualified dentists in this country?

This is a consistent theme of the Deputy's and an area he takes a significant interest in. I thank him for his ongoing advocacy.

The Government is committed to increasing healthcare training places more broadly, but very much including dentistry, in line with commitments in the programme for Government. I like to think I made some good inroads into that in the first ten months of the term. At present, University College Cork admits around 50 students annually to its dentistry programme, split evenly between Irish or EU students and non-EU students. In consultation with the Department of Health, which has advised that dentistry is an area requiring an additional supply of graduates, we are working to expand opportunities for Irish students, particularly given the demands for oral healthcare and the need to reduce waiting lists in the south west of the country.

My Department is actively engaging with UCC and the Department of Health on a proposal to establish a dental outreach centre in north Cork. This initiative will enable training and additional undergraduate dental students each year. My officials are engaging with UCC with a view to maximising the number of Irish and EU students this could support. It also supports a community-based model of education giving students earlier clinical exposure in primary care settings which enhances readiness to enter practice when they graduate. In parallel, UCC is refurbishing its dental school and hospital, co-funded by the Department of Health and UCC, to increase capacity for future growth. My officials are actively engaged in this process to examine all options to increase places there.

These developments complement the new BA in dental surgery programme at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, which commenced in September with 20 places for EU students. The intake on that programme is projected to increase to 35 places annually by 2027. I recently visited and saw the wonderful new facilities and the great work being done to increase our dental graduate output. We remain committed to working with those stakeholders to increase the number of dental training places available to align with the Smile agus Sláinte oral health policy and to increase the number of healthcare places available across the State.

I appreciate the work that is being done. I was in the dental college in the past two weeks, and it was acknowledged that money is being provided to purchase equipment and upgrade the facilities. That is much appreciated by the dental college. The make-up in Cork is 25 Irish students and 31 non-European students. Part of the reason for that is that the college needs to get the funding in to support the system. I also visited the Blackpool facility where it is proposed to put in ten dental chairs. The cost of that is approximately €4.6 million. The submission for that was made in 2022. Between the Minister's Department and the Department of Health, can that programme be put in place so we can grow the number of training places for Irish and European students? It needs to be made a priority.

The planned intake in the current year is 78 Irish students, with 26 of those in UCC, 32 in Trinity College and 20 in RCSI. The UCC outreach proposal I mentioned has the potential to raise intake by another 35 student places. All those measures combined strengthen and increase the opportunities for domestic students. It is the case that a course like this cannot be ramped up overnight because it requires extensive practical training. That can limit capacity, but my Department and the Department of Health are helping UCC to refurbish its dental school and hospital, at a cost of €15 million, to support future growth. With all these measures, we are working hard to increase the number of dental places and dental graduates. There is also additional funding for UCC across a variety of projects. I might touch on those shortly.

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.