The dental treatment purchase scheme is on the verge of collapse throughout the State. The scheme has been haemorrhaging dentists for the past two years. We have medical card holders with cancer, kidney transplant patients and people with diabetes who cannot access a dentist. This has gone on for a year now. The Government needs to take responsibility. People are suffering and it is inhumane. In Drogheda there is not one dentist available to take medical card patients. I do not get any sense of seriousness or urgency from the Government about this situation. I see people at my clinic every single week who cannot access dental treatment. What do I say to those people? Answer me that, because this has gone on for a year. What do I say to those people who are denied access to dental treatment? It is time the Government got its act together. When will this matter be resolved and when will the practice of people being denied access to dental treatment be sorted?

I acknowledge there is an issue here that needs to be addressed. The Deputy referred to the work that has been ongoing for some time now, but that is being intensified. The Department of Health and the HSE have invited the Irish Dental Association to further consultations beginning on 28 February and are currently awaiting a response. As the Deputy knows, the Department of Health in recent days received the report, Improving Access to Dental Care for Medical Card Patients, by Professor Ciaran O'Neill. That is now actively being worked on. I anticipate there will be some further news shortly.