Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. I hope all sides can come to the table in the next few weeks because I am not entirely sure the GP population and the patients they serve will be able to take much more. As I see it, the relationship between GPs and the HSE and between GPs and the Government is at an all-time low. There is no trust, at least as expressed to me by GPs and their representative bodies. They are deeply suspicious. What would help and go a long way early on is a reversal of the FEMPI legislation. Obviously, it must be unwound in a fiscally responsible and affordable way. We are aware that it is being reversed for us, as politicians, civil servants, nurses, NCHDs, consultants and teachers, but GPs have been left out in the cold. Will the Minister put together in the coming days, as a gesture of genuine good faith towards GPs, a roadmap for how the FEMPI legislation will be unwound because many GPs are saying it is all well and good that the Government is stating it will consider the issue but that it cannot take any longer than three years? Is the Minister able to commit to putting a roadmap in place for the unwinding of the FEMPI legislation as a matter of urgency as a gesture of genuine goodwill as the new negotiations start?

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