Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response and I welcome the fact there is no diminution in services. I also welcome his acknowledgement that the problem is one of resources and is related not to funding provided by the HSE but the availability of general practitioners. This problem is exacerbated by the lack of locums, for which there are two reasons. Many locums come from outside of Ireland. Many are what might be termed third country nationals and do not come from within the European Union. The visa regime with regard to locums has changed such that they are now required to leave Ireland for a portion of every year.

I previously worked in the area of immigration law. I have always thought there was a particular discernible attitude within the Department of Justice and Equality towards third country nationals, non-EU citizens in particular. It is almost as if we are saying that these people are good enough to come here and save our lives but we would not want them to get too comfortable lest they might decide to stay. That is appalling. If locums come here and provide essential services, the least we can do is ensure we have in place a visa regime which enables them to remain here if they so wish. A similar problem arose in the context of the shortage of junior and senior house doctors at the time when this Government came to power. While those brought into the country at that time were deemed good enough to be junior and senior house doctors, they were unable to access training programmes. Many of those involved were from India, Pakistan and other countries. They were well qualified and good doctors but they were unable to access training programmes, which was akin to saying that they were good enough to provide some services but we would not want them to get too comfortable, lest they might decide to stay, which is an appalling attitude but not one that surprises me because that is how our immigration system works. It is a problem that not only creates a further problem for these excellent doctors and their families but for ordinary people across this country in terms of not being able to access as good a medical service as they might otherwise get if this visa regime did not exist. This issue needs to be addressed.

Another problem is the high wages paid to locums in the UK. I understand there are Irish doctors going to the UK to work as locums because they know locums there are paid more. As I said at the outset, doctors earn a great deal more money than many of the people I represent. Many of our doctors are going to other countries where the wages are higher because they are under financial pressure here.

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