Mr. Bernard Gloster:

There are two aspects to the GP matter and one specific to rural matters. My colleague, Dr. Colm Henry, might add to that because he plays quite a part in that. The fundamental structural change that we have made, which has commenced this year, is that we have increased the number of GP training places to 350, which is quite significant. The graduate numbers over the next four years will exceed the predicted retirements. The plan is to supplement that. One part of the world, South Africa, has a particularly skilled workforce of doctors, who have come to Ireland and under an arrangement with the Irish College of General Practitioners, they can do two years of supervised practice here and then register as GPs. We have tried to target those specifically where there is either deprivation in cities or rural access challenges. Dr. Henry might want to address GP development in rural Ireland.