Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State will certainly understand it from his previous role in life before coming to the House. Again, I put it to the Minister of State that the reference in the contract to "shall not do anything to prejudice the name or reputation of the HSE" is an outrageous insertion.

The Minister of State can clarify the matter in his response at the end of Second Stage, but he has stated that he is precluded from negotiating on fees by competition law. That is what the Minister of State has said on the public record. If that were to be revisited or changed I would welcome it, as would the Irish Medical Organisation, I have no doubt. If there were such obstacles to the process, a full and inclusive engagement would be problematic and such an engagement would of itself, I suggest, cast doubt on the operability of this legislation, because the general practitioners' willingness to function with and to embrace what is being provided for would render the whole exercise decidedly difficult in delivery terms.

The Government may insist on proceeding with the Bill, and, as I have indicated already, we will not oppose it. However, as I have pointed out to the Minister of State, it is flawed, it lacks clarity and, importantly - I emphasise this point to the Minister of State - it lacks a timetable for the roll-out of universal free GP care as a first step to universal access to health care for all. This timetable is critical to my and my colleagues' support. We have no wish to see an indefinite disparity between those who are being provided for under this legislation and those who will clearly be excluded. It is very important that the continuum of what is being provided for in the legislation is signalled at the earliest stage possible.

This Bill comes at a time when the Government is actually exacerbating inequality of access to GP care. The Government is now clearly mired in controversy with general practitioners, the announcement of today's engagement excepted.

See this speech in context