Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No, Deputy. When one is in government, a long list of people threaten to campaign against you. I guarantee the Deputy that. There is a very long list of people. If there is a live issue about which people feel passionate, national or local, one meets groups which will say that if they do not get their way and if what they want is not done, they will campaign against the Government. Sometimes they even put up candidates, and that is just was part of the experience. I hope that Deputy Pringle will have the opportunity to serve in government some time and he will come to understand that. Everyone who has served in government knows that we are constantly being threatened by people who say that if X or Y demand is not delivered upon, then they will campaign against the Government or possibly even run candidates against the Government. Sometimes they do.

How does one deal with that? It is dealt with by addressing the underlying issue, the reason for the grievance. Many GPs had a grievance with us, not just in the NAGP but also in the IMO. What did we do about that? We tried to deal with the underlying problem, which was to come to a deal to reverse the FEMPI cuts and make general practice viable again. More importantly, however, was trying to ensure we had a chronic disease programme. That included an extra €80 million to ensure that those with chronic diseases could be treated better in the community, instead of having to go to hospital. That is what all this was about. This was something I really wanted to get done and I used my office as Taoiseach and my personal contacts to try to get it done. That is where my judgment slipped.

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