Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No discussions have taken place because the HSE does not go into a room with a bunch of people and decide to award a public contract. Public procurement will have to be advertised on the eTenders website for anybody who wishes to provide the service to be able to apply. I think the Deputy and I would agree that it is appropriate to ask the HSE to brief the local GPs about that service. That will happen in the next number of days. I expect the procurement process to commence this month. Obviously, in a procurement process, one needs people to apply but subject to people successfully navigating that procurement process, I expect the service to be provided in June. This is a fully funded service. There is a dedicated resource for this. We just have to go through the formal process of procurement.

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