Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

I propose to share time with Deputy Halligan. I welcome Deputy Patrick Nulty's maiden speech and I wish him luck, which one needs in here.

I welcome the Health (Provision of General Practitioner Services) Bill, which is excellent news. Reading through the EU-IMF agreement, this stuck out like a sore thumb because it was the only thing I was happy with in the agreement. It is sad that we must be forced to do something like this and it is a shame that we could not have done it ourselves. Perhaps I am being too sceptical and we would have done it anyway. The Bill will open up GP care and break up the cartel that existed for years. It will allow all GPs to treat medical card holders, taking away the advantage of incumbents on the GMS scheme. As matters stand, it is nearly impossible for newly qualified GPs to gain access to the GMS scheme, resulting in many young doctors leaving the country even though we have a shortage of skills in this area. One indicator of the positive elements of this legislation are comments made by Dr. Ruairi Hanley when he said "It is a great day for patients, who will now have an increased choice of fully-trained GPs. It is a very bad day for a small section of the GP, IMO establishment".

If it is a bad day for them, it is a good day for the ordinary citizen. I hope the outcome of this legislation will be that patients get better value for money. If they do, it will not only be of benefit to people's health, because they are obviously more likely to go and see GPs if it is cheaper, but it will make this economy more competitive. There are many factors in making the economy competitive and we hear stories about how people, including civil servants, are paid too much. The numbers might look big but when one pays all the bills, one does not have anything left. I am firmly of the view that if one can survive on €4 a week, one is rich on €5 a week. One can choose whatever version of that one likes. It will also save the country money down the line because statistics, which I am sure Members have seen, reflect the reluctance of people without a medical card or an insurance scheme such as VHI to visit the doctor. Many have not been there in the past five years because other bills get paid first and health gets put on the long finger. Ultimately, this costs the country money because people end up with more serious conditions and they miss work, which means the economy loses money. In that sense, this Bill is good news.

I also hope it will bring a return to the situation that existed in my youth. I am 39 years of age, which is not particularly old. In the 1980s, when things were tough in my household and in the neighbours', if the child was sick in the house the doctor would come to visit. I do not know why that situation changed. GPs are even better paid than they were in the 1980s but for some reason they do not seem to be able to come out to people's houses anymore. A child might have a bad cold and, in my town, one must travel up to 40 miles to see a GP. Obviously this is not a good thing because one is taking a sick child out of the bed, into the cold air, into a warm car and to a doctor who, in general, does not know anything about the patient. I have seen circumstances where people were about to be prescribed penicillin even though they were allergic to it because there did not seem to be joined-up thinking.

I hope this Bill goes some way to creating a situation where there are enough doctors to provide cover. I do not know whether there are enough doctors at the moment and I do not know the reason one cannot get a GP to visit a house. People in my town must go to Mountbellew while five or six doctors in my town are tucked up in bed. I know it is tough work to have to get up in the middle of the night but the local vet seems to be able to do it. The conditions in the bedrooms in houses in Roscommon are a lot easier to deal with than a mucky farmyard when one is getting involved in the various practices of a vet. If a vet can do this, the sick child should get equal treatment or priority. Furthermore, vets provide a service for a lower price. I wonder how this has become the case and whether this legislation will do something to solve the issue.

The display of GPs prices is not covered by the Bill. I phoned a number of GPs this morning to find out their prices but they were not quite sure of their prices. GPs should be treated the same as petrol stations, with the requirement for a large sign outside. Then, we can let people decide.

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