I thank the Minister of State for coming in to answer my question today, which is to do with the funding of oral and dental health. I want to raise the issue of the future of oral health promotion and prevention in Ireland and specifically the work done by Dental Health Foundation Ireland, which is a registered charity. A lot of that work is done on behalf of the Government, where the organisation goes into schools to promote oral health and to teach children the importance of brushing their teeth properly. For almost five decades, the foundation has worked alongside the Government on this. We do a lot of talking in this House about early intervention and keeping people healthier. That is where I am coming from in raising this. I believe that oral health should be treated the same as any other type of health. I sit on the health committee and I note that prevention and early intervention come up as common themes at all our committee meetings. The foundation has been doing a lot of work and the Government's national oral health policy, Smile agus Sláinte, recognises oral health as an integral part of overall health and well-being and rightly places an emphasis on prevention. Dental Health Foundation Ireland is already doing the work that supports these objectives.

My request to the Minister of State is about the core funding solution for Dental Health Foundation Ireland because I understand it is running out of funding. If it does not receive funding it will have to wind down the work it is doing. It has funding until around November. My concern is that while the foundation is doing great work with children in schools and working with dentists, and is doing great work in promoting the best type of oral health, core funding needs to be distinguished from once-off funding for projects. I ask the Minister of State and the Department to work with the HSE to urgently examine how core funding can be secured for the Dental Health Foundation to continue to do that great work. Recently at the health committee we heard that because of a shortage of dentists they do not get to the school in time and some children go through school without seeing the public dentist unless they go to a private dentist.

I see that intervention piece as being crucial in the interim.

I thank the Senator for the opportunity to address this important issue on oral health promotion and prevention services. I am taking the matter on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. The Minister acknowledges the importance of health promotion and disease prevention, and the need for our services to reflect this. The Dental Health Foundation, which the Senator spoke about, is an independent registered charity with a key aim: to support improvement in oral health in Ireland through advocacy and oral health promotion.

The Minister would like to acknowledge the important work that the foundation carried out in its function as the secretariat to the Irish expert body on fluorides and health from 2004 to 2023. The expert body was put in place as an independent group to advise the Minister for Health on issues relating to community water fluoridation in order to discharge the Minister's obligations under the Health Act 1960 to monitor the general health of the population who are receiving fluoridated water. Since 2023, the fluoridation surveillance working group has acquired this function in line with best practice for public health surveillance.

The national oral health policy, Smile agus Sláinte, which the Senator mentioned, aims to radically reform oral healthcare services, recognising the need for an entirely new approach to oral healthcare to meet the needs of the population into the future. The policy is in line with the 2024 WHO global strategy and action plan on oral health, which has a focus on oral health promotion and prevention.

While reform is progressed through the national oral health policy, the Minister is determined to ease the pressure that people are facing in accessing oral healthcare. In practical terms, this means improving access to the public oral healthcare system, especially for children and medical card holders. Officials in the Department of Health and the HSE are finalising a focused two-year action plan to deliver real improvements on the ground. It will aim to respond to sustained service pressures, workforce constraints and long waiting lists, particularly for children and people with additional needs. It will focus on a small number of clear priorities, including reducing waiting lists in the school dental programme, orthodontics and expanding the access programme for people with additional needs and disabilities. Over the next two years, the aim is to stabilise services, reduce waiting times and make access measurably better for patients while laying the groundwork for longer-term reform.

The HSE has responsibility for operationalising oral health promotion and prevention services and is funded by the Department to do so. Included in this is the need for keeping up to date with modern evidence and best practice. The HSE currently funds the Dental Health Foundation through a grant-aid agreement under sections 38 and 39 of the Health Act 2024. Therefore, matters relating to additional funding for the foundation are appropriate for the HSE to consider in line with business needs, avoidance of duplication, value for money and budgetary processes.

I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive response on behalf of the Minister. I appreciate that, at the end of the day, the responsibility lies with the HSE. Nonetheless, I have a concern.

While oral and dental health services are being streamlined, better value for money is being sought and new ways of doing things are considered, my concern is that if the Dental Health Foundation is wound up, there would be no body there to oversee things in the interim period between now and whenever new ways of promoting oral health are in place. There should be some sort of funding to manage that. The Minister of State might bring to the attention of the Minister and the HSE the important work that is being carried out to ensure our children have good dental and oral health. It is really important that the whole education effort should continue.

I have listened to and taken on board the points the Senator raised, including on early intervention, keeping people healthier and, which was her core point, the need for some kind of core funding solution for the Dental Health Foundation. I assure her that improving access to oral health promotion and prevention services is a priority for the Minister for Health and her Department. I restate my recognition of the important work carried out by the foundation as part of its function as secretariat to the expert body on fluorides and health. The foundation played a key role in assisting the Minister for Health in discharging the duty to monitor the health of the population receiving fluoridated water.

The HSE has responsibility for managing oral health promotion and prevention services. As I outlined, that includes the Supporting Smiles initiative, support for patients in residential homes and an upcoming initiative on oral health promotion in early childhood, which is currently in development. The oral health action plan reflects the importance of health promotion and disease prevention. The Minister is carefully considering that plan. I will convey directly to her the points the Senator raised today.

I thank the Minister of State.