I reiterate a call I made in the House last month for a dental tax credit to be made available in this year's budget to parents of primary school children. I propose a €200 dental tax credit for parents to help to cover the cost of routine dental treatment, because delays in the school dental screening programme are causing additional cost-of-living pressures for families. The report by colleagues on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health laid bare that just over half of eligible children nationwide received school dental screening in 2023. They are supposed to receive screening in second class, fourth class and sixth class, yet I have been contacted by parents in Limerick whose children are leaving the primary school system without ever having been seen by a dentist.

I acknowledge the significant steps that have been taken by the Government to improve the situation with dental care. My colleague, the Minister, Deputy Lawless, has increased the number of third level dentistry places. In time and with the new intake of 70 students to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI, in Sandyford last September, this will increase the number of practising dentists available to us. However, I have spoken to the Irish Dental Association. A number of challenges remain for dentists and the association is calling for reform of the medical card dental scheme, including measures to simplify it. It talks about the introduction of a voucher-based approach in its pre-budget submission, which I support. I ask the Leader to bring this call for a dental tax credit for working families who are dipping into their savings and their pockets to put their children's healthcare requirements first, as we all do as parents. We could introduce a practical, targeted measure to assist them as a cost-of-living measure in the upcoming budget in addition to the longer term reforms the Minister is making. She is bringing forward work on this.

Sticking with the theme of health, I sought an update from the Minister for Health two weeks ago on the appointment of a project board to oversee the delivery of something that is badly needed in the mid-west, namely, new acute model four hospital beds. I understand the Minister is still working on that. We eagerly await the appointment of that board. I reiterate calls by clinicians and consultants in the mid-west for a step to be taken in the meantime, that is, to increase the number of consultants in the mid-west. Unfortunately, in the mid-west, we have the lowest number of consultants per head of population, with just 59 consultants per 100,000 people versus the national average of 82 per 100,000 people. It is part of the ongoing problem in the mid-west and I urge the Minister to address that issue immediately.