Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take the Minister's point. However, it seems extraordinary that in 2011 and 2012 - this also appears to have been the case in 2013 and 2014 - it was necessary to make contractual or other arrangements with anything between 45 and 51 general practices in order to meet the needs of what should be - and is - the healthiest cohort of people in the country. Some 39,000 and 36,000 visits were accommodated by such practices in the years 2011 and 2012, respectively. The numbers of such visits appear to be inordinately high.

The management of the medical services by the Department of Defence is, at best, questionable, and serious attention needs to be paid to how they are managed and ordered, and to the cost arising in respect of them, namely, €3 million over the two years. This cost excludes consultancy services because I notice that in each of the two years, there were six consultants in addition to the general practitioners on a retainer of some sort in the Department. In addition, out-of-hours services were provided.

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