Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister of State is aware of this issue, but I ask him to do something about it. The contract talks have been going on for longer than the Brexit talks. It seems to be easier to resolve Brexit than to resolve the GP contract. I have mentioned the specific case of Bangor in my constituency. When the position there was advertised previously, there was just one applicant. A local solution has been put forward. We are engaging with the HSE, which will have to engage with the local solution. I ask the Minister of State, who is responsible for primary care, to give his attention to the Bangor situation. All the political representatives from the constituency are working collectively on it. We cannot allow the people of Bangor to be left without a GP again. People must not be allowed to stick their heads in the sand when a local solution is on offer. This is an urgent matter. We are losing very good and qualified people to Canada, Australia and the United States because of something small. There are small things that can be done to fix this problem, to make general practice an attractive career again and to provide and essential rural service. We cannot put the contract negotiations on the long finger. They have been delayed for long enough.

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