asked the Minister for Health if he is aware that the present facilities for dental service for national school children in Dublin are overcrowded and unable to deal with the present number of patients; and what steps he intends to take to improve this service prior to the proposed extension of the service to secondary school children.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Schools Dental Service.
27.
I am aware that due to the numbers involved, difficulty has been experienced by the Dublin Health Authority in providing an adequate dental service for national school children in respect of defects discovered at school health examinations.
The measures to be taken to remedy the situation are a matter for the Health Authority in the first instance. In my replies to previous questions put by the Deputy, I referred to a comprehensive review of the dental services in their area which was being undertaken by the health authority. I am informed that shortly after his appointment, the Chief Dental Surgeon of the health authority carried out a survey of the services and, in an interim report, has put forward certain recommendations which are designed to secure an immediate improvement. Arising from these recommendations, I have recently approved a proposal of the health authority for the employment of a number of private dentists on a sessional basis to provide services in their own surgeries for national school children, from certain outlying parts of the city, referred to them by the Health Authority for treatment. I understand that a further recommendation for the employment of additional permanent staff was recently approved by the general purposes committee of the health authority and will shortly come before the health authority; in that connection I am prepared to consider sympathetically any reasonable proposal that may be submitted to me for sanction.