I will raise the issue of public dental treatment in Kerry. The main dental treatment service provider is flooded with patients and is not taking any new patients until at least September or October. With regard to orthodontics, there are 3,033 patients in Cork and Kerry waiting to be assessed. Some 2,355 are waiting for treatment, 1,800 of whom have now been waiting for longer than two years, while 177 have been waiting longer than four years. I recently came across the case of a constituent, a teenager, who continued to wear a mask to school because they were so embarrassed about their treatment. That child is in sixth year in school. Will the Tánaiste ask the HSE to take action, step in and provide more dentists under the public system to alleviate these problems?

My understanding is that there have been negotiations with the Irish Dental Association about this. Additional funding for public dental services was provided in the budget. I am not sure where we are in the deployment of that funding but I will certainly let the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, know that the Deputy raised this issue today and ask him to come back to him with a more detailed reply.