Labour Court leaves dental training budgets to HSE and unions

The Labour Court recommended that dental training budget allocations remain a matter for management in consultation with the Irish Dental Association and the Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union. Its recommendation was signed on 27 July 2009. The unions said a £750 annual payment for dentists’ continuing education was protected by a 1999 agreement. The Health Service Executive said there had been no agreement to provide funding on a per-dentist basis. The Court could not establish whether that proposal had been accepted and found that the 1999 agreement did not create an individual employment entitlement.