I want to raise the issue of the difficulties patients are facing in trying to access dental care through the dental treatment services scheme, DTSS. I have been contacted by many people in my own constituency. They are finding it extremely difficult to find a dental practice that is taking part in the scheme. I contacted the HSE for a list of dentists who are participating in this scheme in County Galway. I received a list of 24 in total. However, after contacting each of these practices, I understand that only 14 of those are participating in the scheme and only ten are taking on new patients through this scheme. Can the Minister tell us how often this information is being collected? What is the Department of Health doing to ensure the information is being updated to reflect the reality? Without that information, it is proving even more difficult for people to access the dental care that they need.

I thank Deputy Mairéad Farrell for her question. This has been raised many times over the last few months. The Government is aware of the importance of people's oral health and the need for them to have access to a dentist in the area in which they live.

I have an update. The Department of Health and the HSE officials met with representatives of the Irish Dental Association on 2 March, which was last week. At that meeting, the Department and the HSE proposed to increase fees across a number of items and proposed the reintroduction of scale and polish. These are interim steps. The Minister for Health hopes that the proposals that were presented to the IDA at the meeting on 2 March will stabilise and lead to an increase in the number of contractors in the DTSS. The Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, has allocated an extra €10 million this year to get this over the line. This is on top of the €56 million that is already in the budget.

We are conscious of this and hope to get a resolution as soon as possible.