Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I sure can. The Chair can tell by my flags that I am in my office in Leinster House. I hope I can be heard okay. I will hold the microphone close to me. I thank the witnesses for all of that. Two things jumped out at me. There was reference to suitable premises. There have been conversations in the Joint Committee on Health with regard to having expanded clinical teams, which I believe was the phrase the witnesses themselves used, to provide multiple services in one location. I refer to GPs, nurses, mental health services, physiotherapy and whatever else. I have previously made reference in this committee to the multiple options in the one setting when I was down in University College Cork, UCC. Reference was also made to the fact that we cannot even get GPs in some towns and that services can rely heavily on locum staff. Caherciveen and Lisdoonvarna are examples. How do we square the circle? Are we chasing two different ideals of what clinical practice is going to look like? On the one hand, we are just trying to get GPs into an area while, in other areas, we are trying to expand suitable premises and service provision. Does the ICGP see these as needing to come together as one? How do we square that circle?

I only have two questions. On the second, I was furiously trying to find an exact quote. When people have presented to the Joint Committee on Health, the question of whether we are providing enough training places for medicine graduates in Ireland has been raised. I hope the witnesses will forgive me but I cannot find the exact quote. I am nearly positive that, in conversation with other representative bodies, we have been told that enough places are being provided. This was in reference to the overall number of graduate places being offered. The ICGP is saying that we need to increase the number of GP places specifically. Does this tally? Is it that we are providing enough graduate training place but that we need to increase the number of GP training places and reduce the number in another area? Is it that we are simply not providing enough graduate training places overall, despite what other speakers have said before the Joint Committee on Health?