Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I wonder if he is listening to what graduates and trainees are saying because a huge proportion of them intend to emigrate. We do not have to guess at the reasons for that. We know from the regular ICGP survey that issues such as too many clinical sessions, onerous workload, management responsibilities and traditional responsibilities are unattractive. GPs are no longer prepared to work long hours. They want flexibility and better quality of life. Will the Minister accept that there is a problem with the career structure that is on offer now for GPs? Any change in that regard over recent years has been blocked by existing GPs, which is understandable because they have invested in their practices and so on, but that model does not serve the needs of younger GPs. Is the Minister looking at that issue at this point?

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