2026-05-01
7 officials
Politician(s) lobbied: Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Minister), Department of Health; Pádraig Rice (TD), Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas; David Cullinane (TD), Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas; Marie Sherlock (TD), Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas; Sorca Clarke (TD), Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas; Niall Redmond (Assistant Secretary), Department of Health; Peter Burke (Minister), Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Intent: This would allow for “Direct Access”, meaning the auxiliary dental worker, the Dental Hygienist, to provide preventative dental treatment within their scope of practice without the dentist's prior supervision, prior examination and indicated treatment. Direct Access would help reduce the backlog of primary school children in Ireland who have not had any dental screening and, and enable better access to and choice of preventive dental care for the Irish population.
Methods: EmailSubmissionSocial MediaMeetingVirtual Meeting
Details by Method
Email
Email to the Minister of Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, to ask on Progress of our request for an immediate amendment to the Dental Act
Submission
FEBRUARY 19TH 2026, IDHA’s Submission for Direct Access to the Oireachtas Health Committee.
Social Media
MARCH 15th 2026, IDHA President, Political Opinion Piece on Direct Access published in the Irish Examiner
Meeting
March 30th, 2026, IDHA Direct Access chairperson Donna Paton and 2 IDHA members, Susan Karr and Katie Murtagh, all registered Dental Hygienists, met with Peter Burke, TD, the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism, and Employment in Mullingar at his office to discuss the need for Direct Access within our constituency for the elderly in care homes and school waiting lists.
Meeting
Subject : Amendment of the Dental Act 1985 to allow Direct AccessFEBRUARY 23rd 2026, Meeting with the Department of Health, Chief Dental Officer Dr Dympna Kavanagh and Mr Barry Crossan, Dept of Health. Assistant Principal, Oral Health Unit and Niall Redmond, Assistant Secretary General, Head of Primary Care to discuss Direct Access in the Public and private sectors. This meeting was in the Dept of Health offices, Dublin
Virtual Meeting
Subject Direct Access for Dental Hygienists progress MARCH 4th 2026, ONLINE Meeting IDHA representative group IDHA President, Sviatlana Anishchuk, IDHA President Elect, IDHA Past President and direct access chair Donna Paton, met with Padraig Rice, TD, Social Democrats and Spokesperson for Health
Email
The Irish Dental Hygienist Association (IDHA) are Lobbying To Amend The Dental Act,1985 to remove: Section 54 (2) Emails were sent to ministers of the Oireachtas Health Committee – emails were sent to Minister Padraig Rice: Social Democrats, Minister David Cullinane: Sinn Féin, and Minister Marie Sherlock: Labour. Minister Sorca Clarke: Sinn Féin