David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What does that mean in practice? We need to be straight about we are facing into. Like everybody else, I want to see more people covered with GP cards, but we also need to put the infrastructure in place. We need more training and funding. We need to train more GPs. We need to have a new contract that reflects a modern GP practice. I accept all of that, but the clock is now ticking. We are going to reach April in a very short time. If the Minister is right, these cards are going to be issued. At least, that is his intention. If that happens, in the view of the Irish College of General Practitioners, what will that mean in the short term and the medium term? I do not mean that people may be waiting a bit longer. What will that mean in terms of pressures on the system given what I have just been told?