Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is typical to read out a reply prepared by the mandarins. The Minister for Health is not listening and rural Ireland, as is normal, will be hardest hit by the retirement level among GPs. The figures are available. I do not know where the Minister of State got his figures for the usual spin. There are two GP associations to be dealt with. The Minister, Deputy Harris, and the HSE must address this as a priority, not least because if people do not have access to local GPs they will end up in accident and emergency departments, and the crisis in emergency departments is growing every day. It is appalling. The GPs are not respected. The contract is 40 years old. The GPs give huge time to providing a wonderful service. I compliment all the GPs in Ireland for the work they do on the front line and in dealing with crises each day, ranging from those in a single practice to those in the many big ones, including the three or four in my home town of Clonmel, in Thurles and elsewhere. The Government is seeking to roll out primary care centres, to be paid for through public private partnerships. They are not a success either. They are failing. I was surprised to hear today that one in Mitchelstown, across my county's border, is struggling. They are not the answer.

It is all spin that looks lovely on paper. The Government must act to support the GPs. It must deal with FEMPI and the other issues and give the GPs a half decent rural practice allowance. Let them do what they are trained to do under the Hippocratic oath, namely, serve and save sick people. They should not be treated as if they were little better than skivvies, which is how they are being treated. Again, the Minister should have been here. He is out running around the corridor. I know he is getting married and is busy, and I wish him well in that regard. Nonetheless, he should have been here for this debate.

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