Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----I want respect from the Chair as well, which I am not getting. It is a two-way process. If the Minister starts stripping away licences from GPs or locking them up, as he is threatening if they object, he will go down in history as the most incompetent Minister for Health in this country. Our amendments will ensure that the right to freedom of conscience is protected. They will avoid pointless and expensive court cases but the expense does not matter. They will protect GPs in their work. I am appealing to the Minister but he has set his face against accepting any of them.

The Minister refused to meet the Irish College of General Practitioners, ICGP, and just met the board of directors. A total of 640 GPs have signed a letter calling for an extraordinary general meeting but that meeting has been put off until after all amendments have been dealt with. People can see that it is a total stitch up. They can see what is going on. It is the silencing of doctors, of people who provide care. They do an exceptional job in providing that care.

The Chairman knows how tough it is to be a GP. He campaigned on the slogan, "No doctor, no village". He knows how much people appreciate, need and love their doctors. This is upsetting doctors. A full 640 signed the letter and many more who did not sign it have the same issues with this. Everyone knows how difficult it is to get GPs for rural practices. It is a problem in my own constituency. Are we going to just rubbish them? Are we going to tell them to eat cake and shut up? GPs released a press statement today. They have concerns regarding the total lack of consultation by the Minister and the ICGP board, which is disturbing. Many GPs on the ground do not believe general practice is the appropriate setting in which to deliver abortion because of a lack of capacity in an already overstretched environment. They also cite a lack of training, the limited availability of ultrasound and the need to deliver a genuine freedom of conscience protection for doctors who do not want to be involved in overseeing abortions.