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Dáil Éireann - Volume 286 - 25 November, 1975

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dental Services Report.

26. Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn asked the Minister for Health the present position in regard to the dental services report which was forwarded to his Department by the Western Health Board in January, 1975.

Mr. R. Barry: The proposals in the development plan submitted by the Western Health Board are under active consideration. It will be appreciated, however, that large scale developments of the type envisaged in the plan will have to await the availability of adequate financial resources.

Mr. Callanan: I am surprised to hear the Parliamentary Secretary say he is waiting for finance. That is a contradiction of the reply given to me by the Minister, that there was plenty of money available. I think the Parliamentary Secretary has made an honest reply, because I do not think there is plenty of money.

Mr. R. Barry: I have read this report and I want to commend all those people who were associated with it. [32] It is a blueprint for the future, but what I have said in my reply still obtains that, as the Minister said, while we have plenty of money we have not enough to do everything at the same time.

Mr. Tunney: Is the Parliamentary Secretary saying that while there is plenty of money they are not prepared to spend it on national school students? There is an obligation on the Department to provide a dental service. Is the Parliamentary Secretary saying now that they are not prepared to give it, because there are not sufficient dentists to cater for them?

Mr. R. Barry: One of the questions the Deputy asked was in regard to dentists being available. Several times applications were invited from dentists to come into the school health service but, as he knows well, the Department find it hard to get them.

Mr. Tunney: I am concerned about the service that should be available to school-going children. Is the Parliamentary Secretary telling me now that the Department of Health are not in a position to provide it?

Mr. R. Barry: I might tell the Deputy what has happened in the recent past in regard to dentists.

Mr. Tunney: It is the future I am talking about—the present and the future.

An Ceann Comhairle: Order. please allow the Parliamentary Secretary to reply.

Mr. R. Barry: I am merely trying to indicate that the present is relevant to the future.

Mr. T.J. Fitzpatrick (Dublin Central): Would the Parliamentary Secretary agree that the difficulty experienced in recruiting dentists by the Department of Health is that their remuneration is too low in comparison with what they can earn in the private sector?

[33] Mr. R. Barry: That may be so. On the other hand, with regard to payment of dentists—and I discussed this with the Deputy—the rate of payment by the Department to dentists of different grades is comparatively fair.

27. Dr. O'Connell asked the Minister for Health if he will indicate those classes of persons that are eligible for (a) full dental services and (b) limited dental services; the number of dental surgeons employed in this service and the total cost of providing it; if any estimates have been made of the cost of a free national dental service; and if there are any plans for improving the present unsatisfactory situation.

Mr. R. Barry: Under present regulations, two broad classes are eligible for dental services—(a) pre-school children and pupils of national schools referred to under the child health services, (b) persons with full eligibility for health services and their dependants: 192 wholetime and 140 part-time dentists are employed in the service. Because it has not yet been possible to recruit sufficient dentists to provide a comprehensive service for all eligible persons, priority is given to children and a reasonably comprehensive service is available to them. The service for adults is largely confined to extractions and the provision of dentures.

The cost of dental services provided by health boards for persons now eligible is expected to total £2.5 million in the current year.

There is provision in the Health Act, 1970 under which dental services could be provided for persons with limited eligibility but these services have not yet been extended to that group.

Under a separate scheme administered by the Minister for Social Welfare dental services are made available to insured who satisfy certain contribution conditions. Extractions and fillings are provided free of charge while a State contribution, generally on the basis of one-third of the approved charge is made towards the cost of prosthetic treatment—mainly dentures.

[34] I am well aware that there are short-comings in the dental service. However, the service is improving steadily and every effort is being made to maintain this improvement within the limits of available financial resources.

It is estimated that the cost of providing a free national dental service, similar in range to that currently available under the social welfare scheme would amount to about £11,250,000.

Mr. C. Murphy: With regard to the eligibility of school children, would the Parliamentary Secretary say whether pupils of junior schools are eligible for free dental treatment? Would he clarify what is meant by the term “national school”?

Mr. R. Barry: As the Deputy is aware, all of us here accept and know that primary school means the school one attends before going to a secondary school. Generally, it applies to pupils from 12 to 14 years of age.

Mr. C. Murphy: Does the Parliamentary Secretary mean that pupils at some of these private, junior schools, which are pre-secondary schools, are eligible for dental treatment?

Mr. R. Barry: No, it refers only to what are well-known and accepted as national schools.

Mr. C. Murphy: The Eastern Health Board tell me that these pupils would be eligible whereas, according to the Parliamentary Secretary's definition, they are not. I am thinking of two schools in the Bray area—Loreto Junior and Presentation Junior. What is the position of those pupils between the ages of five and eleven years as regards dental treatment?

Mr. R. Barry: As the Deputy knows, with regard to child care treatment even children from the age of six months are entitled to what is called pre-school treatment.

Mr. C. Murphy: I am fully aware of that but are the pupils attending the schools I have mentioned, in the [35] age group from four or five years to twelve, eligible for free dental treatment? It is a simple “yes” or “no”.

Mr. R. Barry: The schools to which the Deputy has referred are certainly not general throughout the country. If he will give me the details of them, I shall certainly inquire into the matter and advise him accordingly.

An Ceann Comhairle: The remaining questions will appear on tomorrow's Order Paper.

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