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that children get the preventive and corrective treatment that they need, when they need it; — invest in public dental services which will prioritise school screening and medical card holders, including the development of a public-only dentist contract; — modernise the DTSS and integrate this with the GP Visit … Card to widen access to preventative primary care services on the basis of need, and not the ability to pay; — revise Smile agus Sláinte to include the development of public dental services and publish a timebound implementation plan; — establish a multi-disciplinary working group on the development

getting seen by a dentist if you have a medical card. Private dentists will tell you that it is not worth their while and that they actually lose money if they participate in the medical card scheme. This has been going on for years … Government is sitting on its hands and is doing nothing about it. We need proper investment in public dental services, proper school screening, proper medical card services and a workforce plan for dentistry to get more people into the public service just to meet the needs of children

years for orthodontic treatment. It gets worse. Following a parliamentary question I submitted last year, in 2025, the HSE admitted that the public dental service was still only targeting children who were in second or sixth class in 2019. That means many children in counties Wicklow and Wexford … plan to cut the waiting lists fast, modernise the DTSS, restart school screening immediately, integrate this with the GP visit card, invest properly in public dental services, expand access to dental nurses and hygienists and introduce a dental Act. I ask him to vote for our motion

neglected public dental services. The first clear statement of the State's aims and objectives for dental services was first published in 1994. That was called the dental health action plan. That plan led to the development of the dental treatment service scheme for medical card holders … medical card patients. Under the medical card scheme, private dentists are contracted by the HSE to provide services to medical card patients but this scheme is haemorrhaging dentists and medical card patients are paying the price. In 2015, there were around 1,600 dentists participating in the scheme

Tipperary and east Limerick in its hinterland, has no dentist accepting public patients, medical card holders. That is absolutely and totally unacceptable. It is proof positive that the dental and oral health service in this country is totally in disarray and is failing patients very badly … number of dentists employed by the HSE in the public dental service is also reducing by 30, with 65 unfilled posts as of early this year. The year 2019 saw the Smile agus Sláinte plan for the dental service. That was a strategy that was supposed to move

card scheme, leaving thousands of patients without the free care they are entitled to. If that were to happen within GP care, there would be absolute uproar and alarm - rightly so. Yet, we are not seeing that same level of attention or care for our public health service … system. Business cases sit there for months on end. That is absolutely unacceptable if we are to take public dental care seriously. The reality is that those on medical cards and those who struggle to afford to see a dentist are the ones who are most disadvantaged

major county towns, no longer has a dentist providing a service to public patients. This is not acceptable. The Government has repeatedly ignored warnings and pleas for changes to the dental medical card scheme. I have raised my concerns many times in the House and repeatedly with various … continue to treat public patients. It cannot happen - dentists are disappearing from the system and you cannot blame them. Dentists simply cannot continue like this. As a result, many have a made the decision to withdraw from the scheme entirely. Others are limiting their services to basic pain

services we operate is largely from the 1990s, and it must be modernised. While that reform is progressing, we are determined to ease the pressure people are facing now. In practical terms, that means improving access through the public system, especially for children and adult medical card holders … services provided by the HSE. The HSE provides these patients with an oral health examination and where necessary, their treatment is provided using additional supports. This service provides care to many children and adults who would not otherwise have access to oral healthcare services. Regarding access to public

lottery of charity for those who cannot. The foundation of our public oral health network is crumbling for years. The dental treatment service scheme was meant to guard the most vulnerable, namely, our medical card holders. That scheme has fundamentally collapsed. Private practitioners are withdrawing from State schemes

This will go towards funding and subsidising existing public transport services across Ireland by maintaining targeted fares, including initiatives such as the recently introduced free travel for all children up to the age of nine and the young adult card for those aged from … travelling from Charleville to Cork with a morning service at 7.05 a.m. and a service from Cork to Charleville at 5.45 p.m., Monday to Friday. This new route is part of the Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan, a major public transport initiative. Since 2022, 185 new and enhanced

public services? All of those dental practices are full to capacity. The evidence is clear that we must introduce a public-only dentist contract in order to reduce waiting lists, ensure children have timely access to preventative and corrective care and prioritise school screening and medical card holders … would need to be referred to Dublin because he needed two surgeries. Those surgeries would normally be done in Galway but the service was full to capacity. The treatment, she was told, would cost €4,000. That is completely unaffordable for the vast majority of parents. Another child

breaking 363.5 million journeys undertaken just last year. As the statutory body responsible for regulating fares across services operated under PSO contracts, the NTA is central to shaping a public transport system that is fair, efficient and accessible. Through its management of fare strategies, it helps to ensure … best practice, prioritising the reinvestment of the fare revenue is essential to support service improvements, expansion and system resilience. Maintaining a stable funding base is, therefore, critical to sustaining service levels and ensuring public transport continues to meet passenger needs over the long term. Regarding budget

followed through on. The dental treatment services scheme is 95% non-existent. There is just one dentist from Carlow providing this service in a community centre in Killeshin on the Laois-Carlow border. It is impossible for 95% of medical card patients to get treatment under the DTSS … public health system within 18 months but, of course, we are nowhere near that. This should form part of that. I acknowledge that extra dental training places have been put in place but it is key that these students are recruited as public dentists and then retained. There

their service provision, cost and requirements. There is a strong commitment to and focus on ensuring that value, fairness and accessibility for all passengers is achieved. Looking at what we have done, we have made public transport accessible for people through the young adult card, the PSO uplift

suitable expert; and fighting for access to scans, therapies, medicines, educational supports, home supports, disability services, mental health supports and, at times, medical cards. Parents and families become case managers, counsellors, researchers, advocates and campaigners because the State has not put the right supports in place for these … face that on top of the same capacity problems, waiting lists and delays in physical and mental health services that we know exist right across the board. The publication of the rare disease strategy was, therefore, a very important and welcome step. It is a long overdue strategy

wanted to get from Castlebar to Knock to get a flight from Knock Airport. I wanted to use public transport. Just trying to find out about the bus service that connects Castlebar to Knock proved to be an onerous task in trying to do that. I went … communities more sustainable places to live and work in. These communities that welcome visitors must receive the infrastructure and services necessary to support increased tourism activity, such as public toilets, parking facilities and broadband connectivity. So many local community groups are doing really good work in developing tourist

working under the dental treatment services scheme in Louth dropped between 2019 and 2025. There is huge population growth but the level of service provision is declining. The number of children waiting for dental treatment under the primary school dental checks scheme can only be described as scandalous … restorative treatment is not provided to medical card holders and that no assistance is available to help meet the costs of private care. Parliamentary question responses provided to me in recent months have stated that the capacity of the service is based on available resources. There are limitations

rules to get dental care for their child. The last aspect I will bring to the Minister of State's attention are medical card patients. They are really struggling. A constituent told me she had no option but to have a tooth extracted because she simply … planning. Sinn Féin has consistently called for more training places, a workforce strategy that retains graduates here and investment directly into our public dental service, rather than continuing to rely on crisis management. It is an absolute shame that this Government stands over a system where half

must transition. We are setting targets and deadlines but the reality on the ground is that the system is simply not ready. The public EV charging infrastructure in this country is not fit for purpose; it is far from it. It is too complicated. There are too many … expected to download app after app just to charge their car. When they finally arrive at a charging point, it is out of service, blocked or so slow it is practically useless. That is happening every day across the country. Then we ask why people are reluctant

country people cannot access their dentist. In parts of the country people with a medical card will not find a dentist. That is how bad the dental service scheme is. In relation to the school screening programme, according to the Government, every child is entitled … present, there are bottlenecks in the system. For example, a dental hygienist cannot be seen until a dentist refers a patient to the public system. The fact that someone cannot access a dentist means that, therefore, they cannot access a dental hygienist. That is a bottleneck that needs

adult can go through. A modern healthcare system should make it a top priority. Instead, the Government parties have long abandoned affordable dental services. It is almost entirely privatised now, as my colleague has said, with the number of dentists directly employed by the HSE dwindling every year … implementation plan for that policy. Access to dental care for people with a medical card has collapsed, as other speakers have said. More than half the dentists have withdrawn from the medical card scheme, leaving thousands of patients without the care that they need and are entitled

carer or an adult who is living with a condition that often requires specialist treatment, ongoing support and access to innovative medicines. The publication of Ireland's National Rare Disease Strategy 2025-2030 was an important step forward. The strategy provides a roadmap for more integrated person-centred … translate into improvements in daily life. Recent findings from Rare Diseases Ireland are concerning. Four in ten respondents reported poor access to healthcare services. More than 40% rated their physical health as poor, while over one third reported poor mental well-being. Nearly four in ten families described

April when the financial resolutions to give them temporary effect were approved. I thank the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach for its constructive engagement to date on the outline of the Bill, which means these important measures can move … business. In addition, the auto diesel must have been purchased with tax paid in the State by means of a Revenue-approved fuel card provider or in bulk for delivery to the transport operator’s business premises. The diesel rebate scheme rate of repayment is linked

Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Social Protection if the database of personal information associated with those who hold a public services card, and accompanying biometric data, has been used as part of any application of artificial intelligence, either as training data or as a subject

Social Protection to provide any analysis of use cases and business cases formulated by his Department regarding expanding the use of the Public Services Card prior to the initiation of the Social Welfare and Other Matters Bill (2026); and if he will make a statement on the matter

Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the number of Heritage Cards purchased in each category adult, student and so on, each year since it was introduced; if there are plans to modernise it as an app on smartphones