asked the Minister for Health if any improvement has been made in the Eastern Health Board area to reduce the waiting time for orthodontic treatment.

The Eastern Health Board have introduced measures to improve their orthodontic service. However, the waiting list continues to be extensive due to the heavy demand for orthodontic treatment. This situation should improve substantially when a whole-time post of orthodontist is filled. It is hoped that it will be possible to fill this post soon.

I had a letter from the previous Minister in June last indicating that no new patients could be accepted into the Dublin Dental Hospital but that it was hoped to appoint five orthodontists in the country and that one of those was earmarked for the Eastern Health Board. Have these appointments been made?

I am not aware of the letter to which the Deputy refers but according to the chief dental surgeon in the Eastern Health Board there has been an increase in the number of wholetime dentists from 62 in 1979 to 69 at present and that is the full approved staff complement. I am aware also that a full-time consultant orthodontist will be appointed and that this should help to alleviate the problem.

Is the Minister aware that it has taken a very long time to negotiate the terms and the conditions for these posts and to get approval for them? Is he aware that the posts have been approved for some time and that they would have been filled much sooner if it had not been for the amount of negotiation involved? The Minister expresses the hope that the posts will be filled soon. I hope that is so but I would ask the Minister to ensure that these five posts do not come within the embargo that is now in operation having regard to the very damaging effects that sort of situation would have on the dental services, apart from the question of the time and effort that has gone into the negotiations concerning the posts. I appeal to the Minister to do everything in his power to ensure that the posts are filled without delay.

There are a number of questions involved in that supplementary. I take the Deputy's point but would inform him that it is accepted that the main hope for improving the Eastern Health Board services lies in the appointment of a whole-time consultant orthodontist and that a statutory request for the filling of this post and of four similar posts for other health boards is with the Local Appointments Commission. On the question of the embargo, negotiations and discussions in that regard are in progress in the context of those posts and I sincerely hope that there will be a satisfactory solution to the problem.