Ms Laura Magahy:

I thank the Deputy. There is a lot in that. We are very pleased with the availability of funding this year but there will need to be substantially more investment, particularly if we are to get the waiting lists down. As I referenced, it is a multi-annual plan. What we are doing now is putting in place the capacity to deal with the increase in population even since the Oireachtas report was written. That has brought us up to a level playing field and the staff are being hired for that as we speak, as I referenced earlier. However, there is a backlog and it has to be invested in, so that will have to be considered by the Government to see if the appetite is there to do that. That will be a separate application.

In terms of liaising with the front-line people, and not just during the pandemic, it has been incredibly difficult, although we have had substantial engagement with general practice through the pandemic in establishing a general practice research hub.