asked the Minister for Health if he has any plans to extend the dental service to include fixed appliances; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that due to the cost of these appliances the majority of parents of schoolchildren are unable to pay the cost involved; whether in this situation the dental health of children suffers as a result; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Questions. - Dental Service Extension.
18.
Health boards are not precluded from providing orthodontic treatment for eligible persons by means of fixed appliances and, in fact, many such treatments are carried out. Recently the Government made a special allocation of £300,000 to the health boards which will enable courses of orthodontic treatment to be provided for 500 top priority cases, a high proportion of which will involve the use of fixed appliances.
The Minister of State is getting great mileage out of the £300,000 special allocation to health boards. Would he agree that the reality of the case is that there are many people who need appliances who simply cannot have them provided under the provisions of the scheme? I have indicated that two out of every three applicants for dental service do not get them; such people simply have to purchase them themselves or do without, and the majority must do without. What steps does the Minister propose taking other than the allocation of this elastic £300,000 to resolve the dilemma facing so many people in the community at present?
In response to that supplementary may I say that it was a matter for the health boards to decide whether they would have fixed appliances included in the orthodontic treatment being delivered. Some health boards chose not to provide fixed appliances——
Because they had no money.
When the £300,000 was made available, a direction was given by the Minister to ensure that fixed appliances would be included and about 50 per cent of the cases to be dealt with will have fixed appliances included.
Deputy Howlin rose.
I want to call Deputy Yates. I want to deal with Question No. 19, Deputy Sherlock's question. He is present and I am sure he is anticipating the reply to his question.
Arising out of the failure to provide a State orthodontic service, can the Minister explain why private orthodontic fees in the Republic of Ireland are double those in the North of Ireland? Does he have any proposals to deal with this?
The matter which the Deputy has raised is outside the scope of the question. I cannot understand the reasons for this. I was not aware that such a question would be asked.
It is not in the script.
I am well able to answer questions with or without a script and I do not have to run to chief dental surgeons to consult them on every matter like you have to. If the Deputy wishes to throw things like that——
All I have to read is your predecessor, Deputy Leyden's report, which is an indictment on you and your colleagues for their failure to provide——
Let us not personalise matters.
When the Opposition were in Government they suspended that scheme and provided no funding.
That is a very long playing record.
Now that funding is being provided——
When are you going to be responsible?
——you do not want us to improve the situation. You decry what we do and you do not want to let us do any more.
Deputy Howlin rose.
Question No. 19. I am sorry, Deputy. I now call Deputy Sherlock's question.