A dental practice in Tenerife has stopped taking appointments from Irish patients after it experienced a surge in bookings in the past fortnight, only for some of the patients not to show up.
It comes as the Garda National Immigration Bureau at Dublin Airport reported that up to 40% of those travelling to sun destinations have letters for dental appointments.
Clinica Dental in Southern Tenerife said it has received around five requests per day over the past two weeks from Irish people who were specifically looking for confirmation in writing of their appointments
The surgery's Office Manager, Roberta Beccaris, told RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne programme that she became suspicious when some of these patients, who she said were noticeably younger than their usual Irish customers, subsequently failed to show for the appointments.
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She said the practice is now ignoring emails from Irish people looking to book appointments as making these appointments was preventing people in need of dental treatment getting seen by a dentist.
"We are used to Irish people coming for treatment but we thought it strange the number who are asking for written confirmation of their appointment, and then they are not turning up. Now we understand that it was just an excuse to come here for a holiday," she said.
It comes as the Garda National Immigration Bureau at Dublin Airport told RTÉ's Prime Time programme that between 30-40% of people travelling to sun destinations have letters for dental appointments
Garda checkpoints are operating at the Departure Gates of Dublin Airport as part of the government's efforts to enforce restrictions on non-essential travel.
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Travel for medical necessity is permitted and those with appointments are allowed to have another person accompany them on their journey.
A journalist based in Tenerife said she was also aware of accountants and doctors who have received requests for appointments from Irish people who are not normally on their client list and who specifically asked for confirmation emails of their appointments.
Cliodna O Flynn said while the practise did not appear to be widespread, people in Tenerife were likely to be annoyed by it as the island has just gone into its lowest level of restrictions because of resident's hard work in suppressing the virus.
She also said that gardaí in Ireland should be checking if people who are claiming to travel to Tenerife for work have a specific social security number, as people cannot work on the island without one.
Read more:
Gardaí query 'essential' Tenerife dental appointments
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