As I said, there has been an unsatisfactory situation in regard to the Eastern Health Board because of a specific industrial relations problem. I do not want to comment any further on that, other than in the basic information I have given to the House on the current position.
In regard to orthodontic services in the health services generally, there are seven consultant orthodontists available to health boards and to the unit in St. James' Hospital. They are supported by 40 dental surgeons, trained under the direction and supervision of the consultant. I recently consented to the recognition of orthodontics as a speciality for registration by the Dental Council. It is now a matter for the Dental Council to decide on the formal structures for training specialist orthodontists. There was a considerable level of disagreement between the hospitals and the orthodontic consultants about the training modules which were to be used to ensure that we can get more trained people in this area to do the increasing level of work required. We are now proceeding to deal with that issue.
However, I take the point that we have had an unsatisfactory situation in relation to the dental services, generally, for a long time. There will be increased provision in the Estimates this year to try to deal with that historic problem. The backlog will not be resolved in the immediate future but it will be improved upon, based on some recent decisions.