Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I welcome the opportunity to meet the committee and look forward to a fruitful engagement with the Chairman and members in the period ahead.

Deputy Billy Kelleher spoke about free GP care. GP care without fees would be a more accurate way of describing it because nothing is free. The intention is to provide care that is free at the point of delivery. It is not true to say we are no further down the road or that major progress has not been made.

The legislation to give effect to the first phase of free GP care is at an advanced stage and since my arrival in the Department six weeks ago, I have had a number of meetings with officials in respect of the legislation. As the Minister said, it is not without complication. Since the last health Bill, our medical card system has been predicated on eligibility, which has to do with income and hardship. The legislation will change the basis on which we provide a GP visit card and that will be predicated on, as the Minister indicated, certain designated or chronic illnesses. It stands to reason that changing the basis on which these cards are awarded will require attention. Despite how complicated it is, I assure Deputy Kelleher and the committee that the legislation is at an advanced stage. I hope to meet officials again later this week. It is close to being ready to be published. There is always frustration, which I share as a new Minister of State at the pace of change. We want to bring forward these changes, including universal health insurance, by the end of this Dáil and we have set the target dates of 2015 and 2016, but it is unrealistic to set specific dates, for example, in 2013 for the delivery of particular projects. We were asked about this last week by journalists. We are pressing on as hard as we can. It will be in earnest of our good faith when the legislation is published. There will be progress and I assure the Deputy that we are working hard to bring it about.

I agree with the Minister regarding universal health insurance. Deputy Kelleher reasonably asked whether there would be a debate. There is no constraint on anybody having a discussion. The Minister said the programme for Government sets out an agreed course and last week's document elaborates on that. It does not purport to be the last word on every aspect but it is consistent with what is in the programme. I hope that document will engender debate and input, including political input, into this important issue. Nobody is saying there cannot be discussion.