Local Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne has called for greater investment in public dental services, warning that access to dental care for medical card holders has “collapsed” as more than half of dentists have withdrawn from the Dental Treatment Services Scheme.
Deputy Byrne said the Government must prioritise investment in a public dental scheme, including the development of a public-only dentist contract, to ensure school screening programmes and dental services for medical card holders are protected.
Speaking in the Dáil last week, Deputy Byrne said:
“Week in and week out, my constituency office is inundated with people trying to access dental and orthodontic services. The population in Drogheda and south Louth is growing faster now than it ever has before, but vital services are not by any stretch keeping up with the population growth. In fact, they are getting worse under the Minister’s watch. The number of dentists working under the Dental Treatment Services Scheme in Louth dropped between 2019 and 2025. There is huge population growth, but the level of service provision is declining.
“The number of children waiting for dental treatment under the primary school dental checks scheme can only be described as scandalous. One parent told me her daughter has been on the list for braces since fifth class. She is 20 now and has never received the public care she needed. That is a nine-year wait and it beggars belief. Half of primary school children are leaving school without ever having received a screening appointment. Consultant orthodontic vacancies have been unfilled since 2024 in Louth. The total number on school dental screening waiting lists in the county continues to increase year on year. A total of 2,800 children were waiting to be seen and 718 were waiting for orthodontic treatment at the end of 2025.
“Parliamentary question responses provided to me on dental care in Louth in recent months have stated that the capacity of the service is based on available resources. There are limitations to clinical capacity, we are told. Data shows ongoing service pressures, reduced staff levels and declining levels of oral health assessments. This is not news to anyone trying to access services or to those providing services. It surely cannot be news to the Government. This has not happened by accident. Rather, it is a direct result of underinvestment, failure to plan and a hands-off approach by successive Ministers.
“The Government’s inaction on dental services leaves those languishing on waiting lists either in pain or in significant debt. Either way, they have been completely failed. The cost of the Minister’s neglect of this issue will be felt for decades. Action is long overdue on the dental care crisis in this country.”
