The spectrum of scattered ruby laser light due to collective electron motion has been used to measure the ion temperature in the dense plasma focus. Over a range of operating conditions the deuterium temperature in the dense pinch is between 0.7 and 3 keV, the highest values being obtained on only a few discharges in pure deuterium. Interpretation of the scattered light in terms of a near-thermal plasma is favoured for the dense pinch for two reasons. Firstly, the electron parameters derived from the scattered spectrum are in agreement with other independent measurements and secondly, the contribution to the spectrum by rare gas ions in the plasma can be quantitatively accounted for.