Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Referring back to having salaried or the direct employment of staff in general practice, if we are going to have salaried GPs, the support staff in those practices will have to be salaried and directly employed by the HSE. One of the strengths of general practice under the old contract - whatever the new contract will bring - has been the ability of those in general practice to be very flexible and to respond to patients' needs in an immediate way. Having GPs employing and having governance over their own staff is one of the strengths of general practice. There are pros and cons for having directly employed staff in general practice.