Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the question raised by Deputy Donnelly and I am sure he appreciates the position I am in where I cannot negotiate on the floor of the House. I expect that we will be investing many millions more in general practice from 2019 and that we will be beginning to move post FEMPI in 2019 subject to us being able to agree a myriad of things we need to discuss. In any negotiation, both sides will have things they want to discuss. GPs are very clearly saying to me, the Government and this country that they cannot do more unless the existing services are made sustainable and that requires additional investment. I hear that so we must get that right at the start of the process. However, they also want to have a conversation, which I also want to have, about how we make things like Sláintecare a reality. Quite frankly, we cannot do it, as the Deputy correctly says, without involving the GP, practice nurses and the entire primary care team and without resourcing it to do so. I see the conversations as interlinked. How do we make current services sustainable? This involves a discussion about moving to a post-FEMPI era. How do we also then resource, pay and fund general practice to do more? These talks will commence at the end of this month.

See this speech in context