Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It would be remiss of me not to comment on the Bill, having made contributions on Second Stage. It states: "This Act will come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Health may appoint by order or orders, either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision, and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions". About what provisions are we talking? Does this refer to assessing resources? We are talking about rolling out free GP care for the under-sixes and there are concerns about the capacity to absorb that number of children for the purposes of providing free care at the point of service. It is a welcome provision, but it raises the question of whether, at the other end of the spectrum, the over-70s will require more frequent visits to GPs as they suffer from more chronic illnesses. Will GP services have the capacity to deal with more complex cases within primary care, in view of the fact that the stated aim of the Government is for the primary care system to be the bulwark in the delivery of health care? We are trying to decrease the numbers going into the acute hospital sector and I assume this is to provide an incentive to do so. Is the fact that the section allows for the legislation to come into force when the Minister so decides designed to take account of the requirement to increase capacity within GP services?