David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This section deals with increasing the age from six to eight. I referred to it on Second Stage, and it is a response that I would like to hear from the Minister also. Notwithstanding the timeframes, I am concerned about the response he just gave. I understand that there is a process but I expected that process would have been well under way before he brought the Bill before the House because expectations have now been raised. The quicker that he can expedite that process and come back with timeframes the better because it is important but the issue in rolling all of this out, including the provisions for those children aged eight, ten, 13 and people over 70, is that we need to expand capacity in GP provision in this State. One of the challenges we face in convincing GPs that this should be rolled out is that they tell us there are not enough GPs. We can pass whatever Bills we want and say that any number of provisions should be implemented. I want universal GP access for everybody and I want it done over a five-year period, but I also recognise that to do that we need more GPs working directly for the HSE. Does the Minister envisage a challenge in these provisions being implemented given that we have already a dire shortage of GPs? In some parts of the country, people cannot access GP services. They have to travel some distance because the GPs nearest to them are overburdened and cannot take on the workload. When he was in opposition, the Minister was one of those who raised that issue many times. What was absent from his Second Stage response was the issue of GP capacity. What additional GP capacity, in addition to the funding that needs to come to provide for this, does the Minister envisage will be put in place to ensure that this section, the previous sections and the next sections of the Bill can be practically delivered by GPs throughout the State?

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