John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am going to conclude on this. As a member of a Government party, this is the first time this pitch has ever been made to me. I ask, if not implore, the IMO, if it wants to take this further, to put flesh on the bones of what is required. The idea of an IDA Ireland-style start-up grant scheme sounds very practical, given the crisis that exists in GP provision nationally. If the IMO has not done so, I urge it to put together a detailed list of what is required in terms of start-up grants, subsidies and so on that would enable GPs to establish themselves. It would then be up to politicians to advocate for that. A detailed pre-budget submission could be prepared over the coming months. I am not throwing this back on the IMO but I am interested in advocating for this and I am sure my colleagues on this committee are too. I did not appreciate that the debt a qualified doctor emerges from medical school with was so large. On the planning side, it is not right that a doctor has to buy a house and then furnish it. GP practices should be constructed within all new developments and offered to GPs, with some kind of deal around paying back or leasing back over time. That would be one way around that difficulty. I do not know if that sounds terribly patronising or if the IMO has been over this ground previously but I ask the witnesses to give a brief response.