Dr. Ray Walley:

I would again take cognisance of the Dutch health care system - the best in the world - which has been developed over the course of 30 years. Ireland is further in to that 30 years but five years is too ambitious. As the committee has heard from the Irish College of General Practitioners, there is a morale problem within general practice whereby people feel they have a heavy workload. Aside from that, the focus of the next generation of GPs is on work-life balance. If we are saying that we will build a mountain of work when we do not have the resources in place, the industrial action of emigration will increase. We need an appropriate timeframe. Five years is too ambitious.