We use Google Analytics to see which pages are read and how the site is used, so we know what to improve. This only runs if you accept. See our privacy notice for details.

Dáil
‹ Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation

Specialist dental care in Lisnagry

Summary

Deputy Sheehan highlights months without specialist dental care at St. Vincent’s special school, leaving children with disabilities facing severe problems and long waits. The Health Minister asks for the individual details and announces additional specialist dental provision.

St. Vincent's special school in Lisnagry, County Limerick, has been without a routine dental service for months. It has been the bones of a year. The specialist dental post is still vacant. These are students who cannot tolerate routine dental examinations. There is a student who cannot attend school at the moment because she has large cavities in her back teeth, and she has to get these teeth removed. The waiting list for Nenagh is over a year. A lot of these children are on restricted diets. I have been in contact with the Minister's office about this.

If this situation is not resolved, the child could miss up to 18 months at school. She is not the only child at St. Vincent's who currently has these issues. Children with additional needs are being failed in many ways, but to see a child unable to attend school for up to 18 months due to a lack of dentistry is beyond comprehension.

Comment on this

I have not seen that individual representation. The Deputy might give me the name on my way out of the House, and I will take care of it this afternoon. The Deputy is right. We have a programme for a two-year intervention in HSE dental services to make sure that the broad child catch-up programme is happening in schools. Of equal importance is the specialist dental service, particularly for children with disabilities, and we will have a programme of additional surgeries to focus on that. I will be announcing that in the coming weeks. I have a little work to do yet with the Irish Dental Association, but I am very aware of that. If the Deputy gives me the details of the individual case, I will have it sorted.

Comment on this