Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a bit behind. Much of the pressure on the parliamentary counsel system was because of the requirements of the troika. There might be a little more flexibility to deal with these now.

I thought universal health insurance might have been in before the end of this session but it will not. It will also be in the next session. Today the Government approved the Minister to go ahead with the preparation of legislation for free GP care for children under the age of five as part of a process to phase in universal health insurance, as committed to in the programme for Government. We are committed on a phased basis to a universal GP service by 2016 as a precursor for universal health insurance.

With regard to the GP contract, the Department of Health and the HSE are examining the changes which need to be made to the GMS contract to facilitate the introduction of universal primary care. This contract will focus on prevention and will include a requirement for GPs to provide care as part of integrated multidisciplinary primary care teams. The formation of these new contracts will have regard to the constraints of Irish and EU competition law, particularly with regard to setting fees and allowances. The Minister of State, Deputy White, who has responsibility for primary care met the IMO earlier this year and outlined the Government's policy on universal health insurance. All of these will be briefed the coming weeks.

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