The Irish Dental Association has said it is looking forward to the new Government delivering on the commitments both coalition parties made on dental health issues during the election campaign.

Both Fine Gael and Labour said they would:

• Reinstate the Medical Card Dental Scheme
• Fill the vacant post of Chief Dental Officer as soon as possible
• Review the PRSI Dental Scheme
• Engage with representative bodies such as the IDA

The Chief Executive of the IDA, Fintan Hourihan congratulated Dr James Reilly on his appointment as Minister for Health, Roisin Shortall on her appointment as Minister of State in charge of primary care and Joan Burton as Minister for Social Protection (responsible for the PRSI dental scheme).

"The IDA wishes all three new ministers well in their portfolios and looks forward to meeting with them at the earliest opportunity to discuss dental health issues. Besides delivering on the above commitments we are looking forward to engaging with them on the PRSI Dental Scheme, the need to fill critical vacancies in the Public Dental Service and the restoration of a number of services provided by dentists to children and special needs patients" Hourihan said.

The IDA said the commitment given by Fine Gael to renegotiate the contract between the IDA and the HSE for services rendered under the Medical Card Scheme was most welcome. "This is a hugely important topic for patients and dentists given the HSE made a unilateral decision last year to severely restrict the scope of the scheme. Restricting the scheme to emergency care only was shortsighted in the extreme and we hope the new Minister will show the HSE the error of its ways" Hourihan concluded.