Demand prompts cut-price dentist to open second clinic

A dental surgery set up a year ago and offering clients discount prices is to expand it services outside of a small rural village on the Cork/Limerick border.

The Hungarian Dentist, as the company is known, was set up in the village of Ballylanders, Co Limerick, and was the brainchild of the late former mayor of the county, John Gallaghue.

As a mark of respect the company is to name its second premises, which will open in Co Mayo in the autumn, after Mr Gallaghue, who died on May 29 last.

Monika Raffell, the firm’s operations director, said due to the scale of interest in the Ballylanders clinic, they would be setting up another surgery further up the country.

“We have patients coming to Ballylanders from all over Cork, Limerick and Kerry. But they have also come from as far away as Waterford, Galway and even Northern Ireland,” Ms Raffell said.

She said that they had received numerous inquiries from around the border counties and decided it was feasible to open a second clinic in Mayo.

“We are looking at properties in and around Westport and, hopefully, will open a clinic there as early as October,” Ms Raffell said.

Mr Gallaghue had visited Hungary several times and saw how many people were flying out there to get cheap dental treatment.

He approached Ms Raffell and some of her colleagues and asked them if they’d be interested in starting their own clinic in Ireland.

They jumped at the chance when he arranged a premises for them in his native Ballylanders.

Since then, Ms Raffell said they haven’t looked back and their dentists are working round the clock to keep up with appointments.

“Why fly to Budapest when you can come to Ballylanders?” Ms Raffel said.

She said if the Mayo clinic proved as popular as the one in Ballylanders, there would be no reason why they wouldn’t expand even further.