Is the Tánaiste aware that medical card dental services have completely collapsed in Mayo? We contacted each of the 30 dentists in the county listed by the HSE on its website. Of all the many dental practices throughout the county, only one said it was currently treating medical card patients and taking on new patients, and even then it was only doing so for specific treatments. In a county the size of Mayo, with a population of 130,000, that is shocking. Ten practices told us they are no longer providing any medical card dental services and only one practice is taking on new medical card patients. It is not good enough. This has happened because between 2017 and 2020, the allocation for medical card patients was cut by 30% from €3.5 million. There are two issues here. We need to know what the Government is going to do as a matter of urgency. We also need to know why the HSE is putting out false information around this issue.

I am aware that many dentists around the country have withdrawn from the dental treatment services scheme, DTSS, which is the medical card scheme. I am not sure about the details in Mayo specifically but many dentists have withdrawn from the scheme in different parts of the country. The budget for the scheme is being increased and discussions with the Irish Dental Association about getting the scheme working well again will soon be under way, if they are not under way already. I will ask the Minister to give the Deputy a more detailed response because I am not as up to date on the matter as perhaps I should be.