The Mid-West HSE has been forced to cease dental surgeries in Ennis following an incident in the local clinic.
HSE Mid-West Community Healthcare is currently in contact with the parents of up to 43 children to establish if they were affected by an apparent problem at the HSE Dental Clinic in Bindon Street, Ennis.
The HSE has launched a full review to establish all of the facts of what happened.
The centre has six dental surgeries, of which five were in operation when the incident is believed to have occurred on Wednesday last and continued until it was detected on Thursday.
Early indications yet to be confirmed suggest that a drain cleaning product got mixed with the water used during treatment when normally the water would be mixed with an approved dental product.
The surgeries were closed on Friday for corrective action and it is hoped they will be back in operation by Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.
Commenting in the incident, HSE Mid-West chief officer, Bernard Gloster described it as “so regrettable and unfortunate”.
“I want to apologise for any concern or upset caused to the children and their families. The HSE are taking all of the necessary steps to ensure they are supported and have adequate information.
“The HSE will be conducting a full review to establish all of the facts. I am grateful to all of our management staff and clinicians who worked very hard late into last night to respond to this incident ,” he said.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.