No breach of contract by the HSE in introducing a circular amending the Dental Treatment Service Scheme.

Mr. Justice Roderick Murphy found in favour of the HSE and ruled that the introduction of Circular 008/2010 did not breach the contract in force between dentists and the State.

In his decision he examined and referred specifically to Section 2 of the Health (Amendment) Number 3 Act, 1996 which provided that a Health Board should have regard to “the resources, wherever originating, that are available to the Board for the purposes of such performance and the need to secure the most beneficial, effective and efficient use of such resources”. Mr. Justice Murphy had regard to the scope of statutory provisions and the interpretation of the contract between the HSE and the dental surgeons and stated that the contractual rights and obligations as between those parties must have regard to and be subject to the statutory provisions of the Act (page 10, 4th paragraph of Judgement). Mr. Justice Murphy confirmed his view that the statutory obligation on the HSE was to have regard to resources and policies, such as those embodied in the budget set for 2010. The court considered that the reference to living within budget was a “term” of the revised procedures and that measures to live within budget were affected through the circular and thus the circular was protected both by the contract and by the scope of Section 2 of the Health (Amendment) Number 3 Act, 1996.

Mr. Justice Murphy awarded the costs of the litigation to the HSE.