Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am not talking about discretion. It is a question of entitlement. For some reason, a decision was taken at some point in the past that the emphasis was going to be on access to GP care. Access to GP care is important but people need access to the whole range of care, particularly people with a chronic illness. There is a huge cohort of people who are being denied that access free at the point of use. It is actually putting more pressure on GP services and precluding people from getting free access to the range of other services they require when they have a chronic illness. I just cannot understand that thinking.