Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The funding allocated for the measure was not €17 million, but €15 million last year and a further €15 million this year. As such, the HSE Vote contains funding of €30 million for this year for an initial phase of the provision of general practitioner services as part of the programme for Government commitment.

I touched on the legal issues in my initial response. I have never stated in the House during any of the discussions on this matter that the legal issues that have arisen were insurmountable. I have stated, however, that addressing these complex legal issues would require more time and result in the establishment of a complex and cumbersome bureaucratic structure for only one phase of what will be a large project. It would not make sense to do so much additional work to put in place an infrastructure or legal framework that would only deal with the allocation of medical cards on the basis of a medical condition. While the legal issues are not insurmountable, having reviewed the entire project, it has been decided that it would not make sense to go down that road.

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