§ Captain Ellistonasked the Paymaster-General, as representing the Lord President of the Council, whether he will reconsider his intention to appoint a practitioner in the Irish Free State as chairman of the Dental Board of the United Kingdom, in view of the fact that of 14,722 dentists on the British register only 160 practice in the Irish Free State?
§ Earl WintertonNo, Sir. As my hon. Friend is aware, Mr. E. L. Sheridan has accepted the Lord President's invitation to succeed the late Sir Francis Acland as42W chairman of the Dental Board of the United Kingdom. Mr. Sheridan, who has been a member of that board for many years, was last re-elected by qualified dentists practising in Ireland, which expression under the Dentists Acts means the whole of Ireland inclusive of Northern Ireland. At the date of Mr. Sheridan's election, the numbers of qualified dentists on the United Kingdom register practising in Eire and in Northern Ireland were approximately 161 and 285 respectively. I may add that Mr. Sheridan's election was unopposed.
§ Sir F. Fremantleasked the Paymaster-General, as representing the Lord President of the Council, whether, inasmuch as the Irish Free State has its own Dental Board, he will reconsider his decision and nominate a British practitioner for the vacant chairmanship of the Dental Board of the United Kingdom?
§ Earl WintertonNo, Sir. The existence of a dental board in Eire does not seem to the Lord President to be relevant to the question of the appointment of the chairman of the Dental Board of the United Kingdom, one of the members of which, as I would remind my hon. Friend, must, under the provisions of the Dentists Acts, be elected by qualified dentists practising in Ireland.