Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I shall be brief as many of the points I want to raise have been covered.

I agree with Ms Barry about tenancy sustainability. I represent a very large local authority area and this issue has an impact on the tenant and the wider community. The sustainability of the tenancy drops because HSE support falls off after six months. This also affects the wider community.

I have been advocating for a long time that the HSE and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government need to deal with this matter.

I welcome the submission from the IMO and its views on the need to provide patients with a better service. Usually I tend to be fighting with the IMO when in discussions with it. However, I recognise that many good GPs provide a very good service with proper office reception services and practice nurses, all of which incur costs. I have noted that GPs in urban areas all charge similar prices. It is the same price to go to a GP who does not employ a practice nurse or a receptionist or proper - what I would regard as reasonable - accommodation. General practitioners in the same geographical area are all charging €50 or €60. I suggest the IMO must deal with this issue. I am not saying there is price fixing but I am concerned and I have formed an impression. I am sure the IMO is aware of such accusations. The organisation has a funny set-up. I acknowledge the bona fides of the organisation's submission but I think it has issues to address within the organisation which need to be dealt with as quickly as possible.

I am viciously anti-smoking but I acknowledge it is an addiction which is difficult to overcome. However, an increase in the price of cigarettes results in people with very little money being driven to buying smuggled cigarettes. Therefore, the strategy of increasing the price needs to be adopted with caution. The real impact is seen in the community I represent, especially among those who live in the flat complexes. In some cases people will go without food to buy the packet of cigarettes. I am sure Deputy McDonald knows about this on the other side of the river. We need to be very careful about the methodology used. Money is very tight and people in the lower socioeconomic groups buy the John Player Blues at the top of Moore Street or wherever because they still want to buy their packet of cigarettes. I will support any mechanisms that will reduce smoking or even stop people taking up the habit in the first place, but we have a cohort of people who are addicted to cigarettes and we have to be careful that the steps we take do not have a negative social impact on the individual and also on the family, because it is an horrendous addiction.