2026-01-13

I am back again to talk about the dental issue. This time it is about Cork dental hospital which made a submission to the HSE and Department of Health more than three years ago. It wants to open an outreach hub that would have ten dental chairs. The idea is that it would provide care for a large number of people and at the same time provide training for students. The building has been identified. It may have to go through a further process before it is finalised, but a clear plan of action has been set out to improve the dental training the hospital is providing to its students. It has worked closely with the Department and the HSE and a lot of progress has been made in dental care in recent years but for instance, in the dental hospital in Cork, there are 91 chairs and that number of people are working at any one time, learning the skills required to practice as dentists. Our problem with dental services is that we have 44 dentists per 100,000 people. Germany and Italy have double that number per 100,000. More than 104,000 children are on waiting lists for school screening and there has been a 31% reduction in the number of dentists in the HSE. We have a major challenge because we have not increased the number of dental training places. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI, opened a new training facility in September 2025, but that is the first major change that has been made in more than 30 years. The other two dental colleges, Trinity College Dublin and University College Cork, UCC, also need to increase their numbers. This is about a dental outreach clinic that would provide training. Detailed costings have been submitted and it is unfortunate that it has now been three years since the submission was made and no progress has happened on it. The new dental college that opened in the RCSI in September has a community outreach clinic up and running. I do not understand why funding has not been provided for the centre in Cork. We have a team of professionals who are committed to developing and delivering this and what is needed - we have identified the building - is the funding so we can progress this project. When the funding is allocated, the project can be up and running in seven to 12 months. It depends on what work has to be done. However, if the funding is granted, there would be a really fast delivery and I ask that the Department give consideration to providing the funding in 2026 so UCC and Cork dental hospital can get on with this project.

I sincerely thank Deputy Burke for raising this important matter concerning the Cork dental hospital and the availability of dental training places. As the Deputy said, he has raised this issue on a number of occasions and I have responded to him. The Government is firmly committed to ensuring our healthcare system is supported by a steady and sustainable pipeline of highly skilled graduates. My Department, in collaboration with the Department of Health, the Higher Education Authority, HEA, and the higher education institutions, plays a central role in delivering the education and training infrastructure needed to meet the evolving demands of the healthcare workforce, including in critical areas such as oral healthcare and dentistry. Ensuring adequate capacity to train future dentists is part of our broader commitment to workforce planning that supports the health and well-being of our population. With regard to the Deputy's specific question, the Department of Health has received a strong proposal from UCC requesting €4.7 million in capital funding to establish a dental outreach centre. This would enable training of an additional ten undergraduate dental students annually, particularly benefiting Irish and EU students. Currently, UCC admits 50 dentistry students annually, comprising 25 EU and 25 non-EU students. This initiative aligns with the national oral health policy by adopting a community-based model of dental education, which offers students earlier clinical exposure in real world primary care settings and that enhances their skills and readiness on graduation. While the proposal is promising, it currently delivers limited increases in domestic student places. There is a clear opportunity for both Departments to collaborate further to maximise investment and expand domestic training capacity to meet Ireland’s dental workforce needs. Discussions are currently ongoing between the Department of Health and my Department to try to progress this proposal with a view to maximising Irish and EU places to obtain value for money for this proposal. UCC is refurbishing its dental school and hospital at a cost of €15 million in total, co-funded by the Department of Health and UCC. We have established, as the Deputy said, new dentistry programmes, including one in the RCSI, which commenced in 2025 that will provide at least 20 new dentistry places. I re-affirm my Department's commitment to working with all relevant stakeholders to ensure any future expansion of dental education is grounded in evidence, responds to national needs and is delivered in a sustainable manner. However, I can assure the Deputy that his project is progressing.

I thank the Minister of State. I am frustrated by this. The population has increased by over 40% in the past 25 years. September last year was the first time we increased the number of Irish students training for dentistry, but it is not a 40% increase. We need to increase the number of places in UCC and in Trinity College Dublin. How is it that the RCSl was able to open an outreach clinic for which it got funding and UCC, which applied earlier, is still in the negotiation stage? I do not understand why it is being put on the back foot at this stage when UCC has given a clear commitment to expand the number of places available to Irish students. It has to take in people from outside the EU because it can charge full fees and that is how it is able to keep the dental college going. It is important. I have parents on to me every week now because their children cannot get access to dental care because they are on long waiting lists. In Cork there is a waiting list of over 12 months for anyone who is a medical card patient. We have a situation where a huge number of private dentists who were providing care for medical card patients have now opted out. We have gone from 1,452 down to around 600 dentists who are now providing care for medical card patients. The public service waiting list is increasing because of the additional demand now that the private practices are not offering a service. I do not understand where the Department is getting its figures. We will attend the health committee tomorrow and I have seen the presentation that will be made to us by the representatives of the Department of Health. As far as I am concerned, it is a basket case of a reply we will be getting tomorrow because it does not represent what is happening on the ground.

I am sure at the committee meeting tomorrow the Deputy will have the opportunity to question the Department representatives. I am not here to defend its figures but I can quote them and I can say that we have increased by 33% the number of students commencing dentistry studies in 2025. That is factually correct. The Department of Health also tells me that we have had a steady increase in the number of registered dentists since 2016, from 2,949 to 3.945 today. The number of registered dentists per 1,000 of population has risen from 61 in 2019 to nearly 72 today. I understand we have to make more progress but those are the figures that have been supplied to me. I assure the Deputy we are committed to responding proactively to future workforce requirements. I made a special point today of speaking to officials in my Department because I recognise that this is an issue the Deputy has raised on many occasions and an issue to which he wants answers. I fully understand this. The officials from my Department have told me that the Higher Education Authority and University College Cork are meeting in the coming weeks to discuss the next stages of progressing the proposal in regard to the outreach centre. There are a number of issues they have to work out. Student training and student supervision were some of the issues mentioned to me. However, the Deputy should have an update in the near future.