Ní raibh mé anseo inné. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Seanadóir Ahearn as a bheith ceaptha ina Cheannaire ar an Seanad.

I want to raise the issue of dental services. My colleagues in the Dáil had a motion on this yesterday and discussed it in detail. I welcome the fact that the Government did not oppose it. Senator Ryan has raised the matter today as well. However, there needs to be more done than just not opposing a motion. There needs to be actual planning and investment in services.

We have 11,000 people on waiting lists for some form of dental care, be it orthodontics, including braces, or routine surgery, and 8,000 of those have been waiting over a year. Some 40% of our children are waiting more than two years for services. One parent was in contact with me. She has 11-year-old twins who have never had any sort of access to a dentist within the public system. She cannot afford to pay privately. She had to for an emergency once for one of her children, but she is working part-time, her husband is unwell and they are depending on the working family payment, so it is not possible for them to afford proper dental care.

Another parent told me hat her daughter had been called for a hygienist appointment but was sick on the day and could not attend. She sent her apologies, but the child has been waiting 18 months to get another appointment with the hygienist.

A third person told me that her son had been on a list for years for orthodontic treatment. He has now turned 18 and has been told he will be taken off the list. He does not know where he is going to go to get this orthodontic treatment. There needs to be a pathway from child to adult services.

We need to hear a plan from the Minister on the Government is going to address this. We have the lowest number of dentists per head of population in all of the EU, at nearly half the EU average. Only one third of dentists are providing care under the public dental treatment services scheme, which is quite outdated and needs to be updated. Only one in ten dentists works for the HSE. We need to look at some way of tying in dental services with the GP visit card, for example, so that people can get dental care based on need rather than ability to pay.