Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 April 2026
2806. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health the action her Department intends taking to address the regulatory gaps regarding the Dental Council's ability to act in instances of malpractice within dental services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24327/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Dentists Act 1985 establishes the Dental Council as the regulatory body for the dental profession in Ireland. Its general concern is to promote high standards of professional education and professional conduct among dentists. The Dental Council's main functions are assigned under the 1985 Act, and this includes establishing, maintaining and publishing a Register of Dentists and a Register of Dental Specialists and providing for the registration and the retention of dentists' names in these registers.
Section 38 of the 1985 Act sets out a series of grounds under which the Council or any person can apply to the Fitness to Practise Committee to establish an inquiry into the conduct of a registered dentist, one of which is professional misconduct.
The Department of Health is committed to updating the Dentists Act 1985. Ahead of the revision of the wider Dentists Act 1985, a priority is to consider the development of a small number of interim enhancements to the Dentist Act in areas identified as a priority and to proceed with these amendments where appropriate.
The first priority area to be considered and progressed for amendment was the lack of a statutory basis for the ethical requirement for dentists to undertake Continuing Professional Development CPD). On the 9th of December, following extensive policy development and stakeholder engagement over the course of 2025, I received Government approval for the policy proposal to introduce a statutory basis for CPD for dentists. Permission has also been granted for the Department of Health to proceed to draft the General Scheme of a Bill to provide this amendment to the Dentists Act 1985, and officials in my Department have commenced this work. Any legislative change will ultimately be a decision for the Oireachtas.
The Dental Council has requested that other areas of legislation also be considered for priority amendment - these include amending the provisions in the Dentists Act 1985 that relate to dental education and training, bringing them into alignment with regulatory legislation for other Irish health professions, and introducing provisions enabling the Dental Council to check that registration certificates are being appropriately displayed.
